Blues advance to quarter-finals

Newmarket-on-Fergus 1-14   Broadford 1-11

A THING of great beauty it was not but Newmarket did enough to prevail at a wet and windy Sixmilebridge on Wednesday evening, securing a place in the knock-out stages.

Just one point behind, after playing against a very strong breeze in the first half, Broadford were in a great position to cause an upset but didn’t have the required firepower in the second half, with the Newmarket defence dominating.

After an excellent start, the Blues lost their way a little as the first half progressed but manager Bob Enright felt a fight-back from the East Clare side was always likely to materialise.

“We got off to a good start, 1-5 to 0-1, but it was never going to stay like that. We had seen Broadford against Crusheen and they were very unlucky not to win that game. We would always have been expecting them to come back and back they came.

“We contributed a bit to that ourselves. We seemed to lose our concentration when we went seven or eight points up. We were a point up at half-time and I thought that was a pretty fair reflection of what we’d seen.”

He was quite pleased with the performance in the second 30 minutes, in which they showed their superiority, without ever threatening to really pull away. “With the breeze against us, it was going to be a very, very difficult second half and it was, but we knuckled down and picked off scores. We picked off eight points in the second half, which was good in the conditions, against the breeze and the rain, which came heavy in the last 10 or 12 minutes. I think that gets us into a quarter-final and that was our first aim.”

His counterpart Kevin Sammon wasn’t downhearted after losing a game that few, if any, expect his side to win. While they were in a great position with the second half to come, he felt the experience would stand to his charges.

“A breeze will never win you a match. Newmarket took all their chances. We had chances we probably didn’t take. We had a free near the end and if we had a bit more composure, it would have been dropped in. It was a bit rushed. We’re a very young team, we’re building for the future hopefully. We still have a chance in the last round.”

While Broadford had the first score, a pointed free by Padraig Hickey in the fourth minute, they were left behind for 15 minutes after that, with Newmarket hitting 1-5 without reply.

The goal came when Eoin Hayes sent an inviting delivery into Anthony Kilmartin, who was too powerful for Alan Kilcoyne and won the dropping ball before driving to the net.

Indeed, Broadford were unlucky not to have conceded a goal before that as livewire Colin Ryan beat goalkeeper Ollie Marsh in the ninth minute, only for the ball to strike the post.

Nineteen minutes in, Broadford were in trouble but some excellent free-taking from distance helped bring them back into the game, with some fine long-range scores by Kieran Corcoran.

Centre-forward Padraig Hickey also chipped in with some pointed frees, while he played a part in the goal. A clever, short free to Shane Taylor caught Newmarket off guard and he drilled it to the net.

The revival had Broadford just a point behind 1-5 to 1-6 at the break but 50 seconds after the restart they were level, following another Hickey free. Everything was set up for them but they couldn’t drive on.
After 12 minutes of the half, they trailed by 1-11 to 1-7 and their forwards were making no real impression, despite having the wind at their back.

They did rally and a few more pointed frees had them back within two points. However, Newmarket dragged it out to four again, although a late free from Hickey meant there was just a puck of a ball between the sides at the final whistle.

Broadford were weak up front but had good performances from veteran Kieran Corcoran, Taylor and Aongus O’Brien at times.

Newmarket deserved the win and had good performances from their defence as a unit, Colin Ryan, David Barrett and Kilmartin.

Newmarket-on-Fergus: Darren Duggan; Eoin O’Brien, James McInerney, Niall O’Connor; Sean O’Connor, Enda Barrett, Alan Barrett; Eoin Hayes, Ronan Goode; David Barrett, Shane O’Brien, Mike McInerney; Noel Frawley, Anthony Kilmartin, Colin Ryan.
Subs: Liam Clancy for Noel Frawly and James Liddy for Shane O’Brien.
Scorers: Colin Ryan (0-12, 8f, 2 65’) Anthony Kilmartin (1-0) and David Barrett (0-2).
Frees for: 17; wides: 9; 65: 2
Yellow cards: 1.
Broadford: Ollie Marsh; Aidan O’Brien, Alan Kilcoyne, Brian Taylor; James Gunning, Kieran Corcoran, Cathal Chaplin; Cailean Cox, Aongus O’Brien; Niall Moloney, Padraig Hickey, Shane Taylor; Kieran O’Connell, Padraig Taylor, Mark Moloney.
Subs: Diarmuid Moloney for Kieran O’Connell and Declan Teefy for Cox.
Scorers: Padraig Hickey (0-7f), Kieran Corcoran (0-3, 2f, 1 65’), Shane Taylor (1-0) and Cailean Cox (0-1).
Frees for: 20; wides: 5; 65: 3
Yellow cards: 3.