Clon hold off Newcestown comeback to seal derby victory

Clonakilty 2-9 Newcestown 0-9

NEWCESTOWN recovered well after conceding two first-half goals and when Daniel Twomey converted a free soon after the resumption there was only a point between the sides in this opening round County SFC encounter in Dunmanway on Saturday.

But, that was as close as the losers got as Clon’s defence allowed Newcestown get only so far and they hit on the break to end up comfortable winners.

An early Clon goal was a warning that they were going for the kill from the start, having been forced to play extra-time when they met last year.

The major arrived in the sixth minute when Liam O’Donovan collected a clearance from his keeper before parting to Maurice Shanley.

He, in turn, passed to Seán White who cut inside the defence before netting. Newcestown replied with a string of points to level by the 11th minute, just after which their keeper Chris White did well to tip an O’Donovan goal-bound effort around the post.

However, the Newcestown keeper couldn’t prevent veteran Clon midfielder Timmy Anglin from scoring his side’s second goal in the 19th minute after Gearóid Barry flicked a Seán McEvoy delivery into his path.

At this stage, Clon had Tomás Clancy along with David Lowney regularly up helping their attack where O’Donovan, Sean White, and Jack O’Mahony carried the biggest threat. A collision between two of their players added to the losers’ woes and as a consequence midfielder Seán O’Donovan was forced off injured just before the break. 

However, with Micheál McSweeney doing well in defence and Cárthach Keane, David Buckley, and the Twomey brothers getting in on the scoring act, there was only a point dividing the sides before Clon got their second wind and outscored their rivals 0-7 to 0-2 to coast home.

Scorers; Clonakilty; S White, T Anglin 1-1 each, J O’Mahony 0-3 (0-2 f), S McEvoy, D Murphy, R Mannix, L O’Donovan 0-1 each.

Newcestown: D Twomey 0-5 f, C Keane, T Twomey, C Dineen, D Buckley 0-1 each.

CLONAKILTY: M White; E Deasy, F Coughlan, D Lowney; D Murphy, T Clancy, M Shanley; T Anglin, M Scally; L O’Donovan, S White, G Barry; S McEvoy, J O’Mahony, K O’Leary. 

Subs: R Mannix for K O’Leary (h/t), C O’Donoghue for M Shanley (42), O Bancroft for D Lowney (57).

NEWCESTOWN: C White; M McSweeney, C Twomey, S Ryan; C Dineen, G Murphy, N Murray; M Kelly, S O’Donovan; C O’Neill, C Keane, F Keane; D Buckley, T Twomey, D Twomey. 

Subs: D Heffernan for S O’Donovan (inj. 28), L O’Donovan for N Murray (38), T Horgan for C O’Neill (55).

Referee: David Murnane, Macroom.