There was a great interest in bowls around the 1980s. Committee members such as Johnny Connors, Christy Naughton, Peter Buckley and I kept it ticking over. The bowls took place on the Cloghroe-Kanturk road. There is a pub on that road called Regan's Bar. All-Ireland's were played on that road. Lads from West Cork, the city and all the way from Armagh used to play there, Sunday after Sunday during the summer. Mick Barry played many a scór there. He was one of the greatest players, one of the most consistent winners. He won a good few all-Irelands. In the past 9 / 10 years, Tim Sullivan has been successful at All Ireland level as well as John Walsh who won a novice All Ireland up in Drogheda c.1997. Bowls stopped on the Cloghroe-Kanturk road when it was tarmacademned. The bowlers were not happy playing on the big chips. The big chips never settle and the bowl could fly off the road.

We call the game, the scór - the distance to be thrown is always about the two-mile mark. You can play singles or doubles, which we did. You create a starting line at the starting point. You make the line of the line with a bit of paint. You make another line at the finish, two miles away.

Two fellows start and whoever reaches the finishing line in the least number of throws is the winner. If one fellow got seventeen and the other fellow got fourteen, in bowls terms, the winner would have won by 'three bowls of odds. If beaten by one throw, the term is 'beaten in the last shot'. To cross the line is a fowl. If the bowl is 'called', the bowl would be re-thrown. In the old days before Ból Chumann [est.1954], there were no rules, no referee and each player would call the shot. Intimidation was a big thing in the old days, generally the hard men won the day. The hard men would make noise to upset their components. Ból Cumann did away with all that.

You need to be a good judge of the road. Your followers will give you the best play, so you can get the best possible throw. You put a 'sap' of grass on the road and you'd aim for that. In fact, a lot of fellas don't like their own road because they know the points of failure and success of it! It is very healthy past-time. Every muscle of your body is working, arms and legs going throwing two pounds of weight the whole time. The speed of your hands is important. A fast bowl would get the acknowledgement of a good fast bowl. A slow bowler would get shouted at by the crowd to 'get the bowl annointed'. A total of 17/ 20 is a handy scór. There is also the skill of lofting the bends of the road. Seventy to eighty yards is a good loft. Mick Barry was known for lofting 90 yards.

To be continued…

Comments (0) »

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment