Charleville 2-23
Newcestown 0-18
NOEL HORGAN REPORTS
NEWCESTOWN continue to find life difficult operating in the county premier senior hurling championship.
Without a win in the group phase last year, they managed to avoid involvement in a relegation play-off on score difference, having competed admirably in each of their three outings.
After finishing 11 points adrift of Charleville in Grenagh on Sunday, however, their survival is already seriously threatened again, especially since their next test is against a highly-rated Midleton outfit.
Selector Niall O’Sullivan concedes there’s considerable pressure on the 2023 senior A kingpins now, admitting they’ll be hard-pressed to secure a place in the quarter-finals if they don’t improve on their showing against Charleville.
At the same time, he believes they didn’t do themselves justice in their opening game in Group 2, and that they shouldn’t be ruled out of the equation just yet.
Newcestown's Micheál McSweeney gets his hand pass away under pressure from Charleville's Darragh Fitzgibbon.
‘Charleville got an early goal today, and we were always chasing that four or five point margin it gave them,’ O’Sullivan said.
‘We brought it down to three points early in the second half, but we never kicked on, which isn’t a fair reflection of this bunch of players.
‘I know they’re capable of much better, I’m convinced this was just a bad day at the office in general. We’ll just put the result behind us and get ready to deal with Midleton in two weeks' time.’
O’Sullivan accepts it’s been tough going for Newcestown since they emerged from senior A ranks, but he insists they have the potential to put it up to any opposition on their best form.
‘We’re up in the premier grade, there’s 12 good club sides in it, and I have no hesitation in including ourselves among them,’ he stressed.
Charleville’s early goal came from veteran corner-forward Danny O’Flynn, and it pushed them 1-1 to 0-2 ahead with eight minutes gone. More importantly, it gave the Avondhu side the boost they required to snatch the initiative after David Buckley had bagged the game’s first two points for Newcestown.
The Carbery men were 1-7 to 0-4 in arrears midway through the first half, and they could have been even more precariously positioned at that stage had not goalkeeper Cathal Wilson kept out a rasper from Charleville centre-forward Sean Bresnan in the tenth minute.
They managed to arrest their slide in the second quarter when it was largely a case of tit-for-tat, with a brace of points from wing-forward Seamus O’Sullivan and Richard O’Sullivan’s accuracy from placed balls helping to keep them in touch.
Seamus O’Sullivan and Colm Dinneen both brought the best out of the Charleville goalkeeper in the second quarter, but it was 1-11 to 0-9 in the North Cork side’s favour at half time.
Newcestown began encouragingly in the second half when Luke Meade’s switch from centre-back to midfield looked likely to yield rich dividends. After taking a return pass from Jack Meade, the Cork senior panelist deceived Charleville custodian Conor Reynolds with a delightful lob in the 32nd minute, but his effort for a three-pointer was prevented from crossing the line by corner-back Darren Butler.
Newcestown's Richard O'Sullivan gets the better of Charleville's Darren Casey.
Subdued in the first half, Luke Meade was certainly more involved shortly after the restart, as Newcestown cut the gap to three points, 1-11 to 0-11, inside 34 minutes.
Charleville broke their second-half duck two minutes later, courtesy of Darragh Fitzgibbon, who smartly dispossessed Newcestown defender Michael McSweeney before scoring.
That was the signal for the winners to get back on course. Not surprisingly, Cork senior Fitzgibbon, despite the leech-like attentions of Newcestown’s Gearoid O’Donovan, was very much to the fore as they maintained an advantage until the finish.
Charleville were leading by 1-18 to 0-15 when a Richard O’Sullivan effort for a revitalising Newcestown goal from a close-in free was foiled in the 56th minute. Any lingering doubts about the outcome were firmly dispelled three minutes later after Charleville substitute Tim Hawe rattled the net to leave ten points separating the sides.
Cathal Wilson spared Newcestown’s blushes to some extent when saving a Darragh Fitzgibbon penalty in stoppage time.
OUR STAR: Detailed with the onerous task of keeping Darragh Fitggibbon in check, Newcestown’s Gearoid O’Leary did reasonably well in the first half, but there’s no disputing Fitzgibbon was hugely influential after the interval.
Scorers
Charleville: D Fitzgibbon 0-11 (6f, 1 65); D O’Flynn 1-2; T Hawe 1-0; C Buckley 0-3; S Bresnan, Z Biggane 0-2 each; J Callaghan, G Kelleher, R Carroll (f) 0-1 each.
Newcestown: R O’Sullivan 0-10 (7f, 2 65s); D Buckley, S O’Sullivan 0-2 each, C Dinneen, E Kenneally, C Hurley, L Meade (f) 0-1 each.
Charleville: C Reynolds; D Butler, J Meade, A Dennehy; F Cagney, J Buckley, R Carrroll; C O’Carroll, J Callaghan; D Fitzgibbon, S Bresnan, Z Biggane; D Forde, G Kelleher, D O’Flynn.
Subs: T Hawe for O’Flynn (inj, 43), C Buckley for Kelleher, (46), A Cagney for Forde (50), D Casey for Bresnan (51), O O’Connell for O’Carroll (55).
Newcestown: C Wilson; M McSweeney, E Collins, J Kelleher; Colm O’Donovan, L Meade, G O’Donovan; J Meade, C O’Sullivan; S O’Sullivan, S O’Donovan, R O’Sullivan; D Buckley, E Kenneally, C Dinneen.
Subs: C O’Neill for McSweeney (38), C Hurley for S O’Sullivan (inj, 45), Ciarán O’Donovan for S O’Donovan (inj, 54).
Referee: W King (Banteer).
