Seamus Sexton

Seamus Sexton Gets Gold at Bowling Championships

On Sun last the Irish road bowling team really sprung to life at the European Bowling Championship in Germany winning three of the four individual gold medals on offer and two bronze.

Local Nadd Banteer man Séamus Sexton of the famous Sexton Road Bowling family is the new men’s champion of Europe, taking the gold medal held by David Murphy in each of the last three European championships. Other Irish winners were Darren Dempsey and Rachel Kingston who both bowled brilliantly to win the two under-18 medals, while James O’Donovan and Kelly Mallon won bronze in the senior championships.

Seamus win on the challenging Süderhastedt Road in Schleswig- Holstein Germany was the one that really resonated with the Irish. Firstly, as his massive score held out against a determined late challenge and also it seemed fitting that he should take a title twice held by his late father Seamus in 1974 and 1977 who passed away a short while ago. Seamus did absolutely everything right on a road that puniched the slightest mistake. Getting out the last bend in six was the critical target for anyone with ambitions of winning gold. Seamus was well out, but he then had to produce four perfect shots from there to gain enough metres to stay clear of Europe’s elite bowling players. Three super shots in succession followed by a sensational 349m last shot, secured his 2,323.9m total.

His road mark had him close to 200m ahead of Germany FKV’s Simon Quathammer. Ireland’s James O’Donovan put in a surging finish, but he just fell short of Quathammer’s score. One by one challengers failed to get close to Sexton’s score, till the very last group of the day, containing David Murphy and Germany FKV’s Ralf Look.

Ralf Look played four incredible first shots and consolidated his challenge with a massive fifth one. He was slightly right with his sixth one, but he was out the famous last bend. The entire gallery was now focused on Look, encouraging handclaps echoed out in support of his every effort. After a sensational seventh he was very much in the frame, but he lost ground in his next two. He reached 1,935m with his ninth. He needed a massive shot now to bridge the gap.

He was slightly right with his bowl and it fell well short of the target. A wave of Irish tricolours and a surge of Irish supporters swept onto the road for an emotional celebration. For all of Look’s heroics he ended outside the medals which meant James O’Donovan held his bronze. Thomas Mackle was next best of the Irish in seventh and former champion David Murphy, who was injured on Friday, finished 14th. The combined efforts of the Irish men also secured the team gold medal.