Road bowling: Bohane holds back Flood with last-shot victory

Bohane took a big lead with his next shot to the top of the straight, where he had light and Flood didn’t. Flood did better in the shots to the farm though and cut the lead to just 20m. They both negotiated the Devil’s bend in two more, where Flood was back in front by two metres. Bohane regained the lead in the shots to the white wall. They both missed the line from there, with Bohane holding a 10m lead for the last shot. Flood’s last bowl was not his best and Bohane beat it comfortably.

David Hegarty led most of his contest with Jordan O’Sullivan at Grange, upping his performance in the closing stages to fashion a convincing win. After two towards the junior finish he led by 25m, but O’Sullivan edged the third exchange. Hegarty was back in front at the stud farm. He gained almost a bowl at Holland’s wall, which he held in the next two to de Barra’s. O’Sullivan got a good bowl to the schoolhouse to bring him back into it and they went down level to the schoolhouse cross.

A mistake by O’Sullivan with his bowl there handed the initiative back to Hegarty. Most of that evaporated when Hegarty got two poor shots towards O’Sullivan’s. But he edged clear again to Hodnett’s farm and pushed his lead close to a bowl with a great throw to the bungalow. A slip by Hegarty in his next one, gave O’Sullivan a chance to get back into it. Hegarty immediately compensated though, he beat O’Sullivan’s big bowl past White’s and he sealed his win with another big one to the pub.

Timmy McDonagh was too strong for Éamon Bowen in the Billy Molloy Cup at Whitechurch. They were locked together in three each past the pump. McDonagh gained a decisive advantage by making the wall with his fourth, while Bowen’s bowl lodged at the top of the hill. That put McDonagh almost a bowl in front, which he raised with his next one onto the flat before Boula lane. He had well over a bowl after two more past Boula.

He hit top gear with four brilliant bowls to the top of the straight. He was two bowls clear at the farm and he opened the Devil’s bend next to bring the curtain down.

Sophie Murphy and Darragh Foley were top of the class at the Ted Hegarty academy at the Phale Road. Murphy, a daughter of former European champion, David, won her U16 three-way tie with Clíona O’Brien and Ciara Lennon. Foley, comes from bowling royalty too. He is a grandson of vintage champion, Thade Murphy, and a cousin of Juliet Murphy. He defeated All-Ireland U12 champion Fionán Twohig and Cian Kelleher.

Former Ulster chairperson, the late Sammy Gillespie, was honoured for his most outstanding achievement on the bowling road at a plaque unveiling in Armagh. Gillespie covered the famous Cathedral Road, to just short of the lime kilns, in 12 shots in the 1972 U18 championship. He set the road record in a titanic battle with Nelius McVeigh, who also excelled and led for much of the score.

Gillespie, must have often reflected on hitting the highest note in his career as a teenager. Like so many underage stars he was not able to make the leap to the elite level. However, his two final throws from the coal-shed, would present any top senior with a virtually impossible task. As the winter evenings close in, many authorities on the sport, north and south, will be searching the archives for two successive throws, in competition, that could measure up to those two shots.

Gillespie later became an energetic and committed Chair of the Ulster association. He worked hand-in-glove with his friend, Jarlath Devlin, who was Honorary Secretary. Their friendship extended well beyond the committee rooms, indeed Gillespie was a road-shower for Devlin’s son David, helping to steer him to underage All-Ireland success, including a three-in-a-row 2012-2014. Devlin unveiled the plaque with Laura Gillespie, Sammy’s daughter.