| |||
 Ordinary display by Newtown but they won’t be easily beaten The Corkman | |||
|
WHILE they didn’t produce anything out of the ordinary, Newtownshandrum were never in any serious danger of going under to Castlelyons in the opening round of the Evening Echo county senior hurling championship at Kilworth on Sunday.
Twice during the course of a moderate encounter, Newtown’s resolve was put to the test by a Castlelyons side that certainly wasn’t lacking in terms of spirit and determination.
But the 2004 All-Ireland club champions responded positively on both occasions, making it abundantly clear in the process that their bid to reclaim Cork hurling’s top prize won’t be easily derailed in the months ahead.
The difference in class was obvious whenever Newtown decided to raise the tempo, and, in truth, they carved out the openings and picked off their scores with an ease that Castlelyons simply couldn’t match on the day.
The East-Cork side’s hopes of upsetting the odds weren’t helped of course by the fact that they conceded two goals in the opening quarter, both of which were of the fortuitous variety.
The first of these arrived in the sixth minute when Pat Mulcahy, after taking a pass from Jerry O’Connor on the right wing, had an effort for a point denied by the upright, and the rebound fell invitingly for James Bowles, who duly made the most of the gift chance from close range.
That pushed Newtown 1-2 ahead, but Castlelyons, to their credit, refused to be demoralised, hitting back quickly with a brace of excellent points from centre-forward Ciaran McGann.
After James Bowles was prevented from bagging a second goal for Newtown by a good save from ‘keeper Shane Hickey in the 12th minute, Castleyons immediately received another boost when centre-back Barry Fitzgerald pointed a long range free to make it 1-3 to 0-4.
Full-forward Declan Wallace then got in on the scoring act for Castlelyons before the rampant McGann scored his third point to level matters midway through the first half.
Disaster struck again for Castleyons, however, in the 16th minute when full-back Sean Kenny fumbled possession at the edge of the square, allowing Jerry O’Connor to pounce for what would have to be described as a give-away goal.
It meant that all of Castleyons’ good work earlier had been undone, and the threat from their attack was significantly reduced once Newtown pivot Pat Mulcahy put the shackles on Ciaran McGann in the second quarter.
Full-back Brendan Mulcahy also had his problems for much of the first half against Declan Wallace, who landed his second point to leave just three between the sides after 20 minutes.
But, with the exception of Eamonn Fitzgerald, who worked hard on the left wing, none of the other Castlelyons’ forwards really looked the part in the first half when Philip Noonan, John McCarthy and Alan G O’Brien were most consistent at the back for Newtown.
The Newtown attack didn’t function with any great fluency either before the break, but the Castelyons’ defence never inspired complete confidence, and it was to be breached tellingly for a third time when Donal Mulcahy put the finishing touch to an opening created by Ben O’Connor, who had a rather quiet outing at full-forward, in the 26th minute.
It was 3-6 to 0-8 in Newtown’s favour at the interval, and they could have killed off the game within a minute of the resumption had not John O’Connor fluffed a golden opportunity resulting from good work by Donal Mulcahy.
As it was, Castlelyons’ prospects were rekindled by corner-forward Syl McAuliffe, who thundered into to the picture to shoot a goal and a point which trimmed Newtown’s advantage to three points by the 34th minute.
Again, however, Newtown had little difficulty in regaining the initiative after that, with their defence taking control to such an extent that Castlelyons didn’t raise another flag for all of 24 minutes.
In the interim, Newtown had eased clear of danger, with John O’Connor and Dermot Gleeson sharing four scores before James Bowles brought the best out of Castlelyons’ keeper Hickey, and John Paul King completed a strong run with a fine point that left eight between the sides with under seven minutes to play.
John O’Connor and newcomer Gleeson were most conspicuous up front after the break, while Jerry O’Connor, without ever performing to his full potential, and Alan T O’Brien did enough to ensure that Newtown, as was the case also in the first half, enjoyed a slight edge at midfield.
Timmy McCarthy pulled a couple of points back for Castlelyons before the finish, but, in what was his first competitive outing following a lengthy lay-off through injury, he was clearly way off the pace, and his overall contribution was minimal.
Eoin Fitzgerald, who would have been expected to carry the main threat for Castlelyons up front, never got into the game either, and his day was summed up when he missed three easy chances from frees during the course of the second half.
To have had a realistic chance of lowering Newtown’s colours, Castlelyons would have needed McCarthy and Fitzgerald firing on all cylinders, and, in the circumstances, it could be argued that the team did well to finish the match just two goals in arrears and can take encouragement from this display ahead of the clash with Douglas in the second round.
Newtown coach Bernie O’Connor described it as a bit of a struggle at times, but he said he was reasonably happy with the way the match went overall.
“Obviously, there is room for improvement, but the important thing is that the lads showed plenty of commitment, and, once you have that, it makes it a lot easier to get the problems sorted out.
“Considering we were missing Ian Kelleher, Gerdie O’Mahony and Cathal Naughton, it was an encouraging start to the campaign, and I’m convinced that we have the potential to build on it,” revealed the man who was at the helm when Newtown made the historic breakthrough in the county championship in 2000.
| ||
www.newtownshandrum.com | |||