Newcestown on cusp of dream senior A double

Newcestown 0-12    

Newmarket 0-10  

TOM LYONS REPORTS

THE dream of winning a unique county senior A football and hurling double lives on for mighty Newcestown.

The club that has forgotten how to lose again found a way to grind out a narrow win over a Newmarket side that led for three-quarters of this contest but just couldn’t live with the tenacity and sheer spirit of the St John’s men in the closing stages.

This Bon Secours senior A football semi-final took a long time to spark into life with Newmarket leading by three points shortly after half time, having looked the better and sharper side up to that point. However, Newcestown took control of the rest of the half to forge a win that puts them within an hour of returning to premier senior, having been relegated last season.

‘A great second-half performance,’ said a happy Newcestown manager Tim Buckley. ‘At half time we looked kind of dead and buried but I don’t know where they’re getting the energy from. It was a super second-half performance, we probably scored six or seven points and played very, very well.

‘As regards the first half, ten matches in 11 weeks was probably taking its toll. We  started players there today who didn’t play last week, hoping they’d give us more legs. We have some exhausted players so we try to juggle it around. We seemed to be forcing our passes but once we started putting the ball properly through our hands, we seemed to generate scores.’

In a cagey opening to the game, the sides swapped points from frees, Conor O’Keeffe and David Buckley raising white flags, but it was Newmarket who were looking the better side with the O’Keeffes and the O’Connors looking lively in attack.

Points from Conor O’Keeffe (free) and Hugh O’Connor put them two in front but the Newcestown defence – with Trevor Horgan, Mícheál McSweeney and Luke Meade prominent – made sure the gap didn’t widen any further.

When Buckley and Niall Kelly kicked Newcestown points the sides were level again but the well-moving Newmarket side added four points in the closing ten minutes of the half, while Newcestown stayed in touch with two. Darren O’Keeffe (2), Conor O’Keeffe (free) and TJ Brennan were the Newmarket scorers while Tadhg Twomey, coming much more into the game as well as celebrating his 150th championship appearance at adult level, and Buckley replied for Newcestown.

As the sides retired for half-time, the game yet to catch fire, Newmarket looked the more likely side to prevail, leading by 0-7 to 0-5. When Barry O’Connor stretched it to three at the start of the second half, Newcestown looked in trouble.

Newcestown's Micheál McSweeney makes a passionate speech to his teammates after their semi-final win.

It was then we saw the real Newcestown spirit that had brought a penalty shoot-out win against Kanturk in the quarter-final, as they gritted their teeth and knuckled down to business. With Buckley, Keane, Twomey, Meade, Gearóid O’Donovan and Mícheál McSweeney driving them forward, they had the ball in the net through Cárthach Keane only to be harshly whistled back for a free out. Undaunted, Twomey and Buckley kicked points to close the gap to the minimum, but luck was on their side when Newmarket failed to convert two good goal chances.

The last quarter began with Ryan O’Keeffe doubling the lead to two but that was the signal for Newcestown to up the intensity again and Newmarket couldn’t live with them as the red and yellow kicked four points in a row to lead by two points, by the 54th minute.

Captain Luke Meade began the comeback with an inspirational point, impressive sub Seamus O’Sullivan levelled the scores and a Buckley free had them in front for the first time in the game. Despite the best efforts of Alan Ryan, TJ Brosnan and Mikey Cottrell, Newcestown doubled the lead to two with a Twomey point.

Sensing the game slipping away from them, Newmarket went in search of a winning goal in the dying minutes. Ryan O’Keeffe broke through only to see his shot for goal rising too high and going over the crossbar off the post. A point in it, Newcestown were now looking at their second draw in a row but there was no flinching this time. Following a red card for Newmarket’s Conor O’Keeffe and a black for Newcestown’s Jack Meade amid mounting tension, it was Séamus O’Sullivan who clinched the deal for the Newcestown men when he kicked a superb insurance point in the 64th minute.

The double dream lives on, with Dohenys next up for the footballers in the final on November 5th.

‘It’s going to be a busy month for us between the football and hurling finals,’ Tim Buckley said. ‘A lot of my best friends are back in Dunmanway, I’m friends with a lot of those lads and it’s going to be a great final; it will be a great occasion with a great West Cork crowd in the Páirc.’

Scorers

Newcestown: David Buckley 0-5 (2f); Tadhg Twomey 0-3; Seamus O’Sullivan 0-2; Luke Meade, Niall Kelly 0-1 each.

Newmarket: Conor O’Keeffe 0-3f; Darren O’Keeffe, Ryan O’Keeffe 0-2 each; Barry O’Connor, TJ Brosnan, Hugh O’Connor 0-1 each.

Newcestown: Christopher White; Niall Murray, Cian Twomey, Trevor Horgan; James Kelleher, Mícheál McSweeney, Luke Meade; Conor Goggin, Gearóid O’Donovan; Colm Dineen, Tadhg Twomey, Richard O’Sullivan; Niall Kelly, Joe Kenneally, David Buckley.

Subs: Cárthach Keane for J Kenneally (ht), Séamus O’Sullivan for C Dineen (ht), Jack Meade for N Kelly (51), Robin Sweeney for R O’Sullivan (58).

Newmarket: Josh O’Keeffe; Mikey Browne, Alan Ryan, Paudie Allen; Aidan Browne, TJ Brosnan, Paddy Browne; Mikey Cottrell, Cathal Browne; Darren O’Keeffe, Donal Hannon, Barry O’Connor; Conor O’Keeffe, Ryan O’Keeffe, Hugh O’Connor.

Subs: Kevin O’Sullivan for D O’Keeffe (39), Bart Daly for TJ Brosnan (56), Tim Murphy for C Browne (57), Gavin Forde for P Browne (60), Daniel Culloty for B O’Connor (62).

Referee: Robert Whelan (Gleann na Laoi).