Bride Rovers 1-20

Newcestown 0-14

NOEL HORGAN REPORTS

IT was probably Newcestown’s most disappointing display since they graduated to premier senior ranks following their county senior A hurling championship triumph in 2023.

Although they failed to emerge from the group-stage last year, their form was sufficiently encouraging to suggest they’d be quite capable of making a stronger impact this season.

Taking on newly-promoted Bride Rovers in Ballincollig on Saturday evening looked like an ideal opportunity for the Carbery side to begin their campaign on a positive note.

They failed to measure up, however, in a contest that had lost its competitive edge long before the finish.

Manager Daniel Twomey was at a loss to pinpoint the reason for Newcestown’s poor showing.

‘I thought we were in a better place coming in, but we were in second gear tonight for some reason. We came here expecting to win, but we were just sound asleep, we couldn’t get going, and this defeat is very hard to take,’ he admitted.

The Newcestown boss said he wasn’t surprised by what Bride Rovers brought to the table.

‘We knew what they had, we had a game-plan to deal with it, but we just didn’t execute it.

‘We’ll go back to the drawing board now, because we’ll obviously need to up our performance big-time for the next game against Midleton.

‘I’m in no doubt there’s a lot more in us than what we produced tonight,’ Twomey concluded.

The story of the game is easily told.

Bride Rovers came bursting out of the traps, and, despite being denied an early goal when corner-forward Louie Roche’s effort was brilliantly saved by Newcestown goalkeeper Cathal Wilson, the Rathcormack side scorched into an 0-5 to 0-1 lead during the first ten minutes.

Newcestown began to warm to their task towards the end of the opening quarter, reeling off four points on the trot to draw level by the 17th minute.

They had cut the gap to the minimum after a storming run by wing-back Colm O’Donovn set Colm Dinneen up for a score, while an excellent block-down by centre-back Luke Meade led to a swift counter-attack and an equaliser from Richard O’Sullivan shortly afterwards.

O’Sullivan nudged Newcestown ahead, 0-6 to 0-5, from a free won by midfielder Jack Meade in the 21st minute. It seemed reasonable to assume they had removed much of the sting from Bride Rovers’ challenge at that juncture.

As things turned out, that was as good as it got for Newcestown, as Bride Rovers finished the rest of the first half in style, notching an unanswered 1-4, the goal coming from full-forward Adam Walsh.

Trailing by 1-9 to 0-6 at the interval, substitute Niall Kelly posted a massive point from distance for Newcestown in reply to a converted free by Adam Walsh within two minutes of the resumption.

The south-west side’s fortunes went rapidly into decline after that, as Bride Rovers, taking control in all sectors, clicked smoothly into top gear to pile on the punishment in earnest.

With the score at 1-16 to 0-8, the writing was already on the wall for Newcestown when the dismissal of substitute Ciarán O’Donovan for a second-yellow card offence compounded their misery in the 47th minute.

While it took another good save by Cathal Wilson to prevent David Barry from goaling for Bride Rovers inside the last ten minutes, Newcestown found themselves 12 points behind before they managed to make the scoreboard look a little more respectable on the run-in.

Along with goalkeeper Wilson, ace marksman Richard O’Sullivan was about the only Newcestown player to perform up to scratch over the hour.

It goes without saying major improvement will be required against Midleton – convincing victors over St Finbarr’s in their championship opener last weekend – in order to replicate the performance that earned Newcestown a share of the spoils in the group-stage clash with the east-Cork Magpies last year.

Bride Rovers could hardly have made a smoother transition to the premier grade after garnering county senior A championship glory in 2025

They had no obvious weak link when in full flight on this occasion, with such as Eoin Roche and Cillian Tobin in defence, midfielder Ronan O’Connell, and Brian Roche and Adam Walsh up front numbered among their leading lights.

OUR STAR: No shortage of Bride Rovers contenders for the top rating, but Adam Walsh displayed radar-like accuracy from frees, and was very influential in general play at full-forward as well.

Scorers 

Bride Rovers: A Walsh 1-7 (7f); B Roche 0-4; R O’Connell 0-3; C Tobin, C Hogan 0-2 (f) 0-2 each; Cormac Barry, P O’Flynn 0-1 each.

Newcestown: R O’Sullivan 0-10 (7f); C Dinneen, N Kelly, L Meade, D Buckley 0-1 each.

Bride Rovers: C Hogan; J Ahern, E Roche, D Cashman; K Kearney, C Tobin, C Hazelwood; R O’Connell, Cormac Barry; C Ryan, B Roche, P O’Flynn; D Barry, A Walsh, L Roche.

Subs: C O’Riordan for Ryan (55), Conor Barry for D Barry (inj, 58).

Newcestown: C Wilson; M McSweeney, E Collins, J Kelleher; Colm O’Donovan, L Meade, C O’Neill; D McAree, J Meade; C Dinneen, P Collins, R O’Sullivan; G O’Donovan, S O’Donovan, D Buckley.

Subs: N Kelly for P Collins (ht), J Kenneally for O’Neill (37), Ciarán O’Donovan for Dinneen (37), E Kenneally for McAree (46), McAree for L Meade (inj, 60).

Referee: C O’Regan (Ballyhea)