Champions share spoils with Newmarket

 

Crusheen 2-13   Newmarket 2-13

CHAMPIONS Crusheen are not going to easily relinquish their grip on the Canon Hamilton Trophy if Sunday evening’s performance against Newmarket is an accurate indicator.

CHAMPIONS Crusheen are not going to easily relinquish their grip on the Canon Hamilton Trophy if Sunday evening’s performance against Newmarket is an accurate indicator.

In what was their best performance of the season, they played out a draw with Newmarket, who showed they are also strong contenders for the crown.

Commenting on the fact that the game was so competitive, Newmarket manager Bob Enright said, “You can’t approach a championship game any other way than to go looking for victory. It was easy to motivate the boys as we were playing against the county champions. We wanted to measure ourselves against them. It was a fiercely competitive game.

“I am happy. We were four and five down. In previous years we haven’t recovered from that. The lads showed an awful lot of character. We might have snuck it at the end but we are happy,” he continued.

According to Enright, Newmarket “got off to a great start in the second half but, funny enough, I looked at the scoreboard and we were down five points again and we had to do it all again. We needed goals to get back in and fair play to the two lads.

“There are eight teams left. It’s a new competition. They are all tough and I can assure you it will be hard. It’s great to be there,” Enright said.

Crusheen boss Michael Browne agreed, “It’s great to be still there. As it turned out, we could have lost but still got through because Tulla did us a favour. What was critical for me is that we went out and played hurling somewhere close to what we are capable of because we hadn’t done that all year.

“We have been waiting all year for a game like this. I think it was a good game of hurling with a lot of tension and pressure. Fair play to Newmarket, they are a good team as well. They did not lie down and die when we went well ahead. They fought back and got two goals as well. At the end of the day, a draw was a fair result.”

He continued, “The winning and losing wasn’t the critical bit. It was good that we showed some little bit of what we are capable of, some little bit of determination and drive and it showed that we are able to score goals as well.”

The teams were level three times in the first quarter, at which stage the score was 0-5 each. Team captain Gerry O’Grady caused a lot of problems for the Newmarket defence and created the chance that led to a Paddy Meaney goal after 18 minutes.

Three minutes from the break, O’Grady rounded his marker and kicked to the net to put his side two goals clear. A brace of Colin Ryan points from frees left four between them at half-time, when the score was 2-7 to 0-9 in Crusheen’s favour.

In the first minute of the second half, Ryan struck for his side’s opening goal to cut the champions’ lead to the minimum. Crusheen responded impressively with four unanswered points to go five clear 10 minutes into the second half.

Newmarket battled back again and a Sean O’Connor goal early in the final quarter left the minimum between the teams again. There were few scoring chances from there to the end as play swung from end to end. Both sides had opportunities but, on the day, a draw was a fair outcome to an entertaining and competitive tie.

Shane Kelliher, Niall O’Connor, Eoin Hayes and Colin Ryan were prominent for the Blues, while Crusheen had good performances from Cian Dillon, David Forde, Paddy Meaney and especially Gerry O’Grady.

Crusheen: Donal Tuohy; John Brigdale, Cronan Dillon, Alan Brigdale; Ciarán O’Doherty, Cian Dillon, Cathal Dillon; Gearóid O’Donnell, Pat Vaughan; Fergus Kennedy, Jamie Fitzgibbon, Joe Meaney; David Forde, Gerry O’Grady, Paddy Meaney.
Scorers: Pat Vaughan (0-6, 4f, 1 65), Gerry O’Grady and Paddy Meaney (1-1 each), David Forde, Fergus Kennedy (0-2 each) and Cian Dillon (0-1).
Frees for: 14; wides: 7; 65s: 2.
Bookings: Fergus Kennedy (11 minutes) and John Brigdale (59 minutes).

Newmarket: Darren Duggan; Eoin O’Brien, Padraig Kilmartin, Shane Kelliher; Niall O’Connor, James McInerney, Alan Barrett; Sean O’Connor, Eoin Hayes; Ronan Goode, David Barrett, Mike McInerney; Noel Frawley, Anthony Kilmartin, Colin Ryan.
Subs: Liam Clancy for A Kilmartin (48 minutes), Shane O’Brien Junior for Goode (44 minutes) and Niall Enright for Frawley (54 minutes).
Scorers: Colin Ryan (1-9, 0-6f, 0-2 65s), Sean O’Connor (1-0), Eoin Hayes (0-2), Niall O’Connor and Ronan Goode (0-1 each).
Frees for: 9; wides: 7; 65s: 2.
Bookings: Anthony Kilmartin (2 minutes) and David Barrett ((50 minutes).

Referee: Ambrose Heagney, Corofin.