THERE were wins for David Hegarty and Gavin Twohig in Pool C junior A championship quarter-finals – and they will now meet in the semi-final.

At Bauravilla, Hegarty beat Noel O’Regan by one bowl for €4,370 a-side, while at Derrinasaffa Twohig got the better of David Shannon by the last shot for €3,500 a-side. 

Back to Bauravilla, Hegarty and O’Regan went through Robins cross in three shots each with O’Regan having a 40-metre advantage. They both went out the netting bend in two more with O’Regan still leading , by 30 metres. 

Hegarty threw only an average seventh, but O’Regan did not capitalise as he buried his bowl in left and only beat the tip by ten metres. Hegarty got a huge bowl out to the rock and would be led no more from here. He followed up with a huge bowl to the end of O’Sullivan’s railings that raised the bowl of odds.

O’Regan laid down an incredible bowl to the bridge that knocked the bowl of odds briefly. But Hegarty restored it again with another huge bowl over the hump, and his last to O’Donoghue’s railings sealed the deal. 

At Derrinasaffa, in the other Pool C quarter-final, both Twohig and Shannon were out Natties bend in seven shots each with Shannon slightly ahead. Twohig made it three-quarters of the way to cotters cross and Shannon was very left and missed the tip. Twohig went up and around the darkwood turn in two more and had 30 metres of odds. 

At Dwyers wall, there was nothing between them. Shannon was back in front again by 50 metres at O’Neill’s cross. Twohig rallied with two good bowls to Hon Grady’s that won him back the lead for the last shots. Shannon missed the line and Twohig with 80 metres to beat played it well and booked his place in the semi-final against David Hegarty. The other semi-final is Donal Riordan v Johnny O’Driscoll. 

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The intermediate championship got underway this past weekend at Beál na Marbh. Timmy McDonagh, who recently won the Noel O’Callaghan Cup there, played Paul Buckley. Disappointingly, there was no stake in this score. McDonagh took the lead early on, and kept pulling away, eventually raising a third bowl. He now meets Tim Young in the quarter-final at Ballyvourney. In a return score, Sean Paul McDonagh, younger brother of Timmy, beat Andrew O’Callaghan by the last shot for €1,300 a-side. 

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At Ballincurrig, a junior veteran championship semi-final was played between former intermediate players, Trevor O’Meara and Andrew O’Leary. They played for a stake of €1,000 a-side. 

O’Leary opened with a huge bowl past Tattan’s and followed up with an equally impressive second shot to the river bend. Nothing separated them after two more out onto Barry's straight, O’Leary holding a five-metre lead. O’Meara got a big fifth to the honesty box that gave him his first lead by25 metres as O’Leary was left of play. O’Meara stretched his lead with another big bowl to the care home gate and raised a bowl of odds with his next. He extended that to a bowl and 60 metres at the speed camera. After O’Meara’s ninth to O’Callaghan’s wall, matters were terminated. 

At Grenagh in a Pool A junior A semi-final, David Roche lived up to his favourite’s tag as he beat James Cooney; there was no stake in this one. He will play Danny Stokes in the final. 

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At Castletown in a premier junior A score, Shane Crowley was a hot favourite against Cillian Kelleher, playing for a no stake. But there was no lead for Crowley in this score. 

After three shots each, Kelleher had 40 metres of odds. After two more to round tower cross, Kelleher had the same odds and had a big opportunity to go out Pynes corner in two more, but he lobbed his sixth too high and it fell short of the novice line. His odds were now back to 20 metres. 

Crowley was well back of the bend with his seventh and Kelleher went peeping sight. Crowley caught the rock on the bend with his next and Kelleher was too far left and caught the dyke. 

Both had big bowls to go sight from this juncture. Crowley’s bowl fell left and Kelleher unleashed a phenomenal shot that went out full sight and halfway to the netting and raised the bowl of odds for him. Crowley got a good rub off the netting as did Kelleher. Crowley made the avenue with his 11th and another smashing drive from Kelleher to just short of Forshin’s cross secured a two bowls of odds win for him. It booked his place in a playoff against Brian O’Driscoll and Michael O’Donoghue. 

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Hannah Sexton booked her place in the senior ladies semi-final with her second win at Caheragh over Hannah Cronin, playing for a stake of €370 a-side. 

Also, Shane Collins and Mark Bourke (Snr) had a ding-dong battle in Kilcorney in the North Cork junior B semi-final, playing for a stake of €1,000 a-side. Collins won, and awaits the winner of Conor Lucey and Dean Sexton.