Silke Tulk achieves first ever four-in-a-row

Kelly Mallon will have some numbers tossing around in her head this week. The most important number is 14. That’s the number of throws she needed in her Queen of the Roads semi-final to beat the line. When she reels back the tape a little, she will compare opening the big corner in five in the semi-final and six in the final. It’s those small margins that ultimately prove critical. She knows that 14 will almost always guarantee victory, 15 puts you in the frame, but 16 leaves you exposed. She will also know that she should have absolutely beaten the line in 15 and even at the creamery 14 was still possible.

Silke Tulk’s review of the numbers will make more pleasant reading. In her semi-final she had a lucky sixth shot to light at the big corner. It was most definitely lucky 13. That was the bowl that got one of the luckiest breaks of the weekend and sent her on her way to a record eighth Queen of the Roads and the first ever four-in-a-row. She got past the line in 16, the same as her total in the final. Number 15 might be just the one that gives her a cold shiver. She played her 15th shot from virtually the same place both days. She beat the line on Friday and missed it on Sunday. She knows that Kelly Mallon would have beaten the line 99 times out of 100 with her reply, somehow she didn’t in the final.

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European champion, William Hobbelink, will be haunted by the disparity in his numbers between the semi-final and final of King of the Roads. His blistering start on Saturday had him close to the pony’s gate in four throws. On Sunday he was at the same point in six. After a mistake with his fifth bowl, he still managed to get out the big corner in 11 in the semi-final. It took him 13 in the final. In the semi-final he beat the line in 15, in the final he would have taken 19. In all of that number one is the key. He got a poor opener in the final, while in the semi-final he made light with a super first shot.

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Colm Rafferty’s numbers slipped fractionally too. In the semi-final he beat the line in 16 shots, while he was just out the last bend in 16 in the final. He will be cheered by joining an exclusive club of players who have completed the triple-crown of provincial, All-Ireland and King of the Roads in the same season. He is also the third member of the same family to win King of the Roads. His first win, added to his first-cousin, Thomas Mackle’s five and his uncle, Michael Toal’s, two, give them eight crowns. They are tied with the Murphy brothers, David has six and Aidan two.

Ellen Sexton has a special number to celebrate too. In her case the number two. She became only the third person in the history of the Proto-Mark Technologies Triple Crown to be part of two winning teams. Her sister, Hannah teamed up with Wayne Parkes to win the title twice.

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Tommy O’Sullivan, who was Ellen Sexton’s team-mate in 2023, may be in the middle rung of a unique three-in-a-row. He became the first winner of the Triple Crown to win the Jim O’Driscoll Cup. He can place his focus on King of the Roads in 2025. Were he to do that he would be the first to win those three titles in successive years. It would also enrol him in a special club with David Murphy who won the Jim O’Driscoll Cup in 2004 before winning his first King of the Roads in 2007. This year’s King of the Roads, Colm Rafferty, is the only other person in that club, he won the Jim O’Driscoll Cup in 2017 and 18 Dutch woman, Suzan Zieverink, has some interesting numbers opposite her Ballincurrig CV too. She is the only person to have ever won the O’Brien Cup, for the best shot of the weekend, in successive years, 2018 and 19. She was on the winning team in the Triple Crown in 2018 and was a runner-up in 2019. She is counting down numbers to when she will be Queen of the Roads. She was highly impressive in the Dairypower Double and must have her eyes set on Silke Tulk’s crown. If she wins the Dutch Championstour in 2025 she would be an automatic inclusion in Queen of the Roads.

 

Results:

Queen Semi Final Kelly Mallon bt Anke Klopper 2bls bt Veronica O’Mahony 3bls 3 x 250 as.

Jim O’Driscoll Munster Cup Final Tommy O’Sullivan bt Denis O’Sullivan ls.

Queen Semi Final Silke Tulk bt 2bls Geraldine Curtin bt Dervla Mallon ls. 1150 as between Curtin/Mallon.

Jim Geary Invitational Cup Michael Murphy bt Eugene McVeigh 2bls 1250 as

King Semi Final William Hobbelink (NKB) bt Thomas Mackle (Ulster) ls bt Martin Coppinger (Munster) 2bls 3x 400 as.

 

Luuk Zanderink/Suzan Zieverink (NKB) bt Hannah Cronin/Liam Murphy 2bls 400 as.

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King Semi Final Colm Rafferty (Ulster) bt Stefan Runge (Germany) ls bt Arthur McDonagh (Munster) 1bl 3 x 600 & 1750 between Rafferty/McDonagh.

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Paul/Mickey Rafferty bt Andrew O’Leary/Willie O’Donnell ls 5,500 as.

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Jim O’Driscoll Cup Final Tommy O’Sullivan (Munster) bt Ethan Rafferty (Ulster) 2bls 17,000 as.

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Oisin Gribbon/Ellen Sexton (Munster) bt Bart Lucas/Merle Aveskamp (NKB) bt Flynn Meyerhoff/Neele Carstens (FKV) 1bl.

 

King Final Colm Rafferty (Ulster) bt William Hobbelink (NKB) 2bls 2200 as.

Queen Final Silke Tulk (NKB) bt Kelly Mallon (Ulster) ls 2600 as.