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 Newtown's crown The Corkman | |||
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By Noel Horgan
The difference in class was glaringly obvious as Newtownshandrum shattered Cloyne’s bid for a first title in last Sunday’s county senior hurling championship final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
Apart from the opening quarter, Newtown’s success, which gave them their third crown since 2000, was never in any real doubt, and it was especially sweet in that it allowed them to claim Cloyne’s scalp for the first time at this level.
Defeated by the East-Cork men in a first round game in 1998, Newtown were also forced to bow when the teams clashed at the semi-final stage last season. Newtown’s failure to complete the two-in-a-row in 2004 was hardly a major surprise, however, bearing in mind that they were bound to be a tired team following the huge effort put in to collect All-Ireland club honours earlier in the year.
As well as that, Jerry O’Connor was unable to start due to injury in last year’s semi-final, while Pat Mulcahy, who had been on the casualty list during the early stages of the championship, was way off the pace at centre back on the day.
That there were mitigating reasons for Newtown’s elimination is beyond dispute, and their desire to set the record straight was clearly calculated to provide them with extra motivation ahead of this showdown with Cloyne.
From the outset, it was obvious that team coach Bernie O’Connor had his charges fully fired up for the task ahead, and once they settled into a rhythm midway through the first-half, they proceeded to produce a brand of hurling that Cloyne, for all their admirable determination, simply couldn’t match.
It was indeed vintage Newtown in the second quarter as they reeled off eight points in a row to lay firm foundations for victory before the break.
While minor player Cathal Naughton and Ben O’Connor did the bulk of the scoring, perhaps nobody did more to inspire Newtown’s devastating surge than Jerry O’Connor, who exerted a huge influence at midfield.
Popping up here, there and everywhere, Jerry was involved in the lead-up to several of his side’s fruitful raids before the break, and his performance underlined how severely Newtown were handicapped by his absence from the starting fifteen when they fell to Cloyne last year.
Significantly, Pat Mulcahy played a starring role too at centre back, comprehensively mastering Colm O’Sullivan, who, in scoring 1-4 from play off Mulcahy, did much to secure Cloyne’s ticket to the 2004 decider at Newtown’s expense.
They received a chastening lesson this time, and, in truth, their limitations, particularly in attack, were ruthlessly exposed by a Newtown outfit that looked awesome when in full flight.
Ian Quinlan, in the early stages, and Conor Cusack, towards the end of the first-half, were the only Cloyne forwards to pose any sort of problems for a Newtown defence that put up the shutters in earnest after the interval.
The result was that Newtown, leading by 0-11 to 0-4, at half-time, had little difficulty in maintaining an advantage until the finish, despite the fact that Jerry O’Connor and Cathal Naughton were prevented from repeating the heroics which had grievously undermined Cloyne’s prospects before the break.
The decision to move Diarmuid O’Sullivan from centre back to midfield on Jerry O’Connor, and the switch of Liam O’Driscoll, introduced at midfield after 22 minutes, to wing back on Naughton helped Cloyne to disturb Newtown’s fluency in the second-half.
Ultimately, however, it counted for very little as the Newtown rearguard, superbly marshalled by man-of-the-match Pat Mulcahy from centre back, ruled with a firm hand when the pressure came on.
The reality is that Cloyne had too many gaps to plug, and Paudie O’Sullivan’s accuracy from frees, some of which were questionable to say the least, provided their main source of penetration in the second-half when Victor Cusack tried hardest up front, and was a bit unlucky to be their first forward to be called ashore in my book.
Apart from the promise displayed by Ian Quinlan at wing forward, Cloyne must have been encouraged by the strong play from Killian Cronin at full back, and the impact made by John Cotter at midfield during the opening exchanges.
Declan Motherway and, to a lesser extent, Maurice Cahill also kept their end up fairly well on the left flank of defence as Cloyne responded with points from Quinlan and Victor Cusack to a Newtown point scored by Alan T. O’Brien within seconds of the throw-in.
Cloyne led by the minimum again after Paudie O’Sullivan converted a free to make it 0-3 to 0-2 after 12 minutes. But then Newtown, inspired primarily by Jerry O’Connor’s promptings from midfield, clicked smoothly into top gear, and, after a brace of points in quick succession from Donal Mulcahy and Alan T. O’Brien inched them ahead entering the second quarter, they mercilessly piled on the punishment for the rest of the first-half.
Declan Murphy came to terms with the threat from Cloyne’s Ian Quinlan to complete a half back line in which Pat Mulcahy and Philip Noonan were both very quick to settle into the game.
Alan T. O’Brien enjoyed a share of useful moments at midfield, while Cathal Naughton and Ben O’Connor, despite the close attentions of Cloyne’s gritty corner back Eoin O’Sullivan, blossomed in attack where an improving John Paul King, at full forward, and Donal Mulcahy, on the right wing, also made worthwhile contributions.
Picking off a succession of exquisite points with consummate ease, Newtown had forged 0-10 to 0-3 ahead before Paudie O’Sullivan broke the sequence from a free won by Conor Cusack, who was beginning to look threatening at left corner forward for Cloyne against Gerdie O’Mahony.
After wing back Philip Noonan, fed by the ubiquitous Jerry O’Connor, got in on the scoring act to restore Newtown’s seven-point lead, Cloyne almost received a badly-needed boost in stoppage time when Philip Cahill, taking a pass from Conor Cusack in the right corner, flashed a low cross into the danger-zone which Maurice Cahill just failed to touch home.
Considering that Newtown’s tactics in playing the wings had rendered Diarmuid O’Sullivan virtually redundant at centre back for Cloyne in the first-half, it was no surprise that he restarted at midfield.
As I’ve said, O’Sullivan’s forceful play did much to reduce Jerry O’Connor’s impact after the break when substitute Liam O’Driscoll played no small part in limiting Newtown’s progress in the half forward line.
Indeed, the possibility that Cloyne might be able to mount a recovery couldn’t be ruled out after a Victor Cusack point, sandwiched by a brace from frees by Paudie O’Sullivan, enabled them to trim the deficit to four by the 39th minute.
After Maurice Cahill was penalised for over-carrying, however, Ben O’Connor notched Newtown’s first score from a free a minute later. That broke Newtown’s second-half duck, and, after Diarmuid O’Sullivan shot wide with a similar chance for Cloyne shortly afterwards, the North-Cork men steadily regained the initiative, without ever reproducing the brilliance that had hallmarked their performance before the break.Pat Mulcahy was a majestic figure at centre back in the second-half, receiving excellent support from his flankers Declan Murphy and the ever-dependable Philip Noonan.
Dermot Gleeson had a fine game at left corner back, while team skipper Brendan Mulcahy, who turned in a typically flawless display at full back, and Gerdie O’Mahony, who put the shackles firmly on Conor Cusack after the break, completed an unyielding last line of defence in front of ultra-reliable custodian Paul Morrissey.
All of which made it abundantly clear that Cloyne were battling for mere respectability after Ben O’Connor, latching on to a delivery from hard-working centre forward John O’Connor, showed his quality yet again to push Newtown 0-14 to 0-7 ahead with 12 minutes remaining.
They achieved that to a certain extent, thanks in the main to the efforts of Killian Cronin, Liam O’Driscoll, Diarmuid O’Sullivan and the evergreen Declan Motherway. But the bottom line is that Newtown were clearly the more accomplished team, and they had the laurels safely in the bag long before John Paul King, placed by substitute James Bowles, put the finishing touch to an emphatic victory in stoppage time.
Another occasion to be savoured for Newtown supporters in the attendance of 18,246, and it can be safely said that there is a lot more to come from this dedicated group of players, judging from the competent manner in which they delivered the goods last Sunday..
What the future holds for Cloyne is another matter, but it will be no easy task to recover from a second consecutive final defeat, all the more so since it was plain to see that they haven’t resolved the attacking problems which primarily proved their undoing as well against Na Piarsaigh 12 months ago.
Scorers – Newtownshandrum: B. O’Connor 0-6, 0-2 frees, C. Naughton 0-3, A.T. O’Brien and J. P. King 0-2 each, D. Mulcahy and P. Noonan 0-1 each. Cloyne: P. O’Sullivan 0-5 frees, V. Cusack 0-2, I. Quinlan and C. O’Sullivan 0-1 each.
Newtownshandrum: P. Morrissey, G. O’Mahony, B. Mulcahy, D. Gleeson, D. Murphy, P. Mulcahy, P. Noonan, A.T. O’Brien, Jerry O’Connor, D. Mulcahy, John O’Connor, C. Naughton, J O’Mahony, B. O’Connor. Sub: J. Bowles for J. O’Mahony.
Cloyne: D. Óg Cusack, E. O’Sullivan, K. Cronin, D. Motherway, M. Naughton, Diarmuid O’Sullivan, M. Cahill, Donal O’Sullivan, J. Cotter, V. Cusack, C. O’Sullivan, I. Quinlan, P. O’Sullivan, P. Cahill, C. Cusack. Subs, L. O’Driscoll for Donal O’Sullivan, J. Nyhan for V. Cusack, V. Cusack for P. Cahill.
Referee: D. Kirwan, Eire Óg.
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