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 Midfield battle the key for Newtown The Corkman | |||
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Newtownshandrum’s Ben O’Connor comes face to face with his county colleague Cloyne’s Diarmuid O’Sullivan during their County SHC clash at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in 2004. Ben will be looking for a different result as Cloyne beat Newtown that day.
TAKING the form of the combatants so far this season as a yardstick, Cloyne would appear to be in with every chance of dethroning Newtownshandrum in next Sunday’s county senior hurling championship semi-final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
In their three previous outings, the East Cork men have made very light work of dispatching Killeagh, Glen Rovers and Midleton in turn, knocking in a total of 12 goals in the process.
Their decisive victory over Midleton two weeks ago contrasted sharply with Newtown’s less than convincing quarter final win over Imokilly, and it’s obvious that Cloyne have fully recovered from the traumatic experience of losing a second consecutive county final last year.
Yet, it’s worth remembering that Cloyne were equally impressive in advancing to the last four in 2005, and they didn’t exactly scale the heights when finishing just two points to the good against a UCC side that paid the price for gross wastage of possession on the day.
In 2004, Cloyne secured their ticket to the final at the expense of Newtown, but again the merit of that win was questionable, bearing in mind that the reigning All-Ireland club champions were forced to start without the injured Jerry O’Connor, and that Pat Mulcahy had been on the casualty list during the early stages of the championship, and was way of the pace at centre back.
Significantly, when the teams renewed rivalry in last year’s county final, O’Connor played a starring role at midfield and Mulcahy earned a man-of-the-match rating at centre back as Newtown fashioned an unflattering six-point victory.
Cloyne’s tally in that game was just nine points, and they notched just one more the previous year when they again fell short in the decider against Na Piarsaigh.
All of which suggests that the Cloyne attack, while capable of scoring goals for fun and putting up a big score when in full flight, has yet to prove its worth against quality opposition.
Cloyne will be making their fourth successive appearance at the semi final stage next Sunday, having failed narrowly to Blackrock in 2003 when the crossbar prevented Diarmuid O’Sullivan from shooting a late match-winning goal from a penalty.
But the Rockies were much the better team on the general run of the play in that game, and, with better use of their possession, they would have been home and hosed long before Cloyne were presented with a last-gasp opportunity to claim the spoils.
Cloyne have come on quite a bit since then, but, for the reasons already outlined, doubts must still be harboured as to whether they are good enough to go all the way now.
It can be safely said that their credentials will be sternly tested by Newtown, who will be expected to step up on their display against Imokilly.
With the exception of Ben O’Connor, most of Newtown’s key players failed to perform up to scratch in the quarter final, and the team seldom functioned with its familiar fluency as a unit.
Jerry O’Connor and Conor Naughton contributed some good scores, and minor player Ryan Clifford had a very promising outing in attack, while the defence fared out reasonably well, apart from Pat Mulcahy, who received a very testing time from his Cork colleague Niall McCarthy.
Coming in the wake of his poor display in the All-Ireland final, Mulcahy’s below par performance has led to speculation that the Cork captain might be enduring a crisis of confidence at the moment.
It could prove fatal for Newtown if he doesn’t recapture something approaching his true form against Cloyne, especially since he will be pitted against Diarmuid O’Sullivan, scorer of 3-7 during the East-Cork side’s resounding quarter final win over Midleton.
O’Sullivan’s transfer to attack might turn out to be a trump card for Cloyne, because if he can provide the leadership up front, the odds are that it will bring the best out of such as Conor Cusack, Mike Naughton and gifted teenager Paudie O’Sullivan: all of whom are capable of causing havoc when they are motoring well.
But this is going to be the acid test for Cloyne, and it remains to be seen if they are equipped to reverse last year’s county final result.
Strong in defence where Killian Cronin is their mainstay, they have looked very impressive so far this year, but, taking the calibre of their opponents into account, it might be unwise to read too much into the smoothness of their progress.
Midleton clearly weren’t up to the required standard in the quarter final, whereas Newtown encountered an accomplished Imokilly side, and, in surviving that difficult challenge, they will probably have gained more than Cloyne did from their facile win over the East Cork Magpies.
At the same time, Pat Mulcahy’s recent form must be a source of some concern for Newtown, and, unless Alan T. O’Brien, John Paul King and James Bowles improve considerably on their quarter final displays, the North Cork men are unlikely to remain on course for their first ever two-in-a-row.
This time last year, however, Newtown faced up to a semi final clash with St. Finbarr’s, having scraped home in their previous outing against Bride Rovers which caused many to conclude that they had gone off the boil.
But they produced a devastating display to qualify for their fourth final since 2000.
It can be taken for granted that they won’t have it so easy against Cloyne on Sunday, but it’s quite conceivable that they will rise to the occasion again.
They will surely take a lot of stopping if Jerry O’Connor and Alan T. O’Brien — potentially the most formidable pairing in the county — can give them an edge at midfield, and Ben O’Connor is firing on all cylinders in attack.
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