Blues lift Clare Champion Cup

Newmarket-on-Fergus 1-10
Inagh-Kilnamona 1-8

AT the start of the year Newmarket had designs on a county championship and they were disappointed not to get out of their group at the very least, but winning a Senior B title and the Clare Champion Cup means 2011 hasn’t been a write-off for them.

The Blues deserved Sunday’s win, their first since 1974, but they were helped by some terrible shooting from the Inagh-Kilnamona forwards, who squandered chance after chance. A total of 55% of their attempts on goal (not including balls hitting the post or dropping short) went wide. The equivalent figure for Newmarket was 21.5%.
While most of the Inagh-Kilnamona defenders did quite well, (particularly Ronan O’Looney and Dermot Lynch) and goalkeeper Pa Kelly made a string of good saves, they just didn’t have the cutting edge required further forward. On the other hand Newmarket combined a mean defence with several potent attackers.
Newmarket started well and Colin Ryan brought the first save out of Kelly within 60 seconds of the throw in. Ryan had his first point from a free in the second minute, while the lead was doubled by Eoin Hayes, who scored after an assist from Enda Kelly.
Niall Arthur got the losers on the board in the fifth minute, but this was cancelled out by a fantastic score from Ryan, who pointed a free from well inside his own 65m line.
Haulie Vaughan and Ryan swapped points, while Niall Arthur pointed a free for the combo, before Eoin Vaughan was on target to make it 0-5 to 0-3.
Anthony Kilmartin’s presence caused problems for the Inagh-Kilnamona defence and, in the 17th minute, he got his side’s goal. Kilmartin won a breaking ball and sent a powerful shot beyond Kelly to the corner of the net.
Gerry Arthur would reply with a pointed free for Inagh-Kilnamona but this was followed by three wides in a row.
Ryan showed some great control before adding another point in the 27th minute. He won the resulting puck out too and sent the ball back over the bar. The score was disallowed after consultation between the referee and umpires, however, apparently because a forward had been inside the 21m line.
Ryan would add another Newmarket point before the break, but an error from Kieran Devitt in injury time gave Inagh-Kilnamona a lifeline.
Eamonn Glynn had an attempt on goal, but it was a relatively tame effort. Devitt stopped it, but didn’t manage to control it very well and the ball fell to Eoin Vaughan, who tapped it into the net.
That left it at 1-7 to 1-4 as the half time whistle sounded. Interestingly Newmarket had hit just one wide compared to seven for their opponents.
The second half was a scrappier affair than the first, with few highlights.
Inagh-Kilnamona had a couple more wides before Kilmartin had the first score of the half, ten minutes in. A free from Niall Arthur then brought the gap back to three.
David Barrett and Ronan O’Looney both picked up yellow cards in the 45th minute, while Ryan stretched the Newmarket lead again with a free from half way.
Conor Tierney brought it back to three again, but another chance to cut the deficit back to two was lost when the ball struck the upright. However, Niall Arthur did find the range shortly after, leaving the score at 1-9 to 1-7.
With seven minutes left, Sean O’Connor had the last Newmarket score of the day.
Pa Kelly made a great stop to deny Kilmartin in the 56th minute, while James Liddy was off target to score from the rebound. Liddy had a chance to make amends shortly after, but Kelly made another good save, which kept his side in the hunt.
Deep in injury time, the losers had a chance to force a draw, when a 21 metre free was awarded. Kelly made his way up the field and seven Newmarket players lined the goal. Kelly got plenty of power behind it, but the ball rose over the bar and thus went the combo’s last chance as the final whistle sounded almost immediately afterwards.
The Newmarket defence was quite solid throughout, with James McInerney doing well at centre back. Both Enda and David Barrett had their moments, as did Eoin Hayes and Anthony Kilmartin, while Colin Ryan scored some excellent frees. As mentioned, Inagh-Kilnamona had good performances from Kelly, Dermot Lynch and Ronan O’Looney while David Hegarty also did some good things.

Newmarket-on-Fergus: Kieran Devitt; Shane O’Brien, Stephen Kelly, Niall O’Connor; Darren O’Connor, James McInerney, Alan Barrett; Enda Barrett, Eoin O’Brien; Sean O’Connor, David Barrett, Enda Kelly; Eoin Hayes, Anthony Kilmartin, Colin Ryan.
Subs: James Liddy for Enda Kelly.
Scorers: Colin Ryan (0-6, 5f), Anthony Kilmartin (1-1), Eoin Hayes, Enda Kelly, Sean O’Connor (all 0-1).
Frees for: 12   Wides: 3   65s: 0
Yellow cards: David Barrett  Red cards: 0
“We knew that it’d be close, it usually is when we’ve played each other. We’re relieved to have come out on top.” Bob Enright, manager

Inagh-Kilnamona: Pa Kelly; Milo Keane, Brian Glynn, Dermot Lynch; Ronan O’Looney, David Hegarty, Colm Pilkington; Tomás Kelly, Haulie Vaughan; Eamon Glynn, Damien Lafferty, Eoin Vaughan; Gerry Arthur, Niall Arthur, Conor Tierney.
Scorers: Niall Arthur (0-4, 4f); Eoin Vaughan (1-0); Gerry Arthur (1f), Haulie Vaughan, Pa Kelly (1f), Conor Tierney (all 0-1).
Wides: 11   Frees for: 18
Yellow cards: Ronan O’Looney.
“We’re very disappointed with the outcome, we’ve a lot of work done all year. Congratulations to Newmarket.” Paul Gannon, manager

Referee: Ger Hoey.