SAHC: Fermoy roar back from five points down to beat Newcestown
Fermoy snatched a big SAHC victory with a late goal against Newscestown. Picture: Larry Cummins
Fermoy 3-12 Newcestown 1-16
FERMOY made it two wins out of two in the Co-Op Superstores Senior A Hurling Championship as they produced a stunning late comeback to defeat Newcestown 3-12 to 1-16 at Ballincollig.
A sensational display from Edmund Kenneally, who claimed 1-10 of his side’s total, looked to have Newcestown on course for victory but late goals from Shane Aherne and Gary O’Callaghan saw Fermoy snatch the win by two points.
Injuries meant Fermoy were forced to make a number of changes to the side they had initially selected to start but they still began brightly with the clinical Liam Coleman edging them in front in the fourth minute.
The teams were level at 0-3 apiece at the beginning of the second quarter but Fermoy may have felt disappointed that they weren’t ahead as they hit all their first half wides (four) in that time.
And they were duly punished as Newcestown, inspired by their full-forward Edmund Kenneally, would score 1-7 without reply to take complete control of this contest.
Centre-back Eoghan Collins and Cork senior hurler Luke Meade would grab a point each from distance but it was Kenneally that really did the damage.
The number 14 added three further frees to his own tally as well as two points from play but it was his goal that brought the biggest cheer of all from the majority of the decent crowd in attendance.
Kenneally shrugged off the challenge of his marker to produce a brilliant catch before turning quickly and drilling the ball into the top right corner of the net.
But Fermoy responded well to that setback and another Coleman free was followed by a thunderous low finish from former Cork footballer Tomás Clancy to raise a green flag to keep them in contention at the break, 1-10 to 1-6.
Similar to the first quarter, the two clubs would claim 0-3 apiece in the third so four points still separated them until Kenneally produced another moment of magic by dropping over a free from his own 65-yard line, 1-14 to 1-9.
They soon swapped a point each to maintain Newcestown’s five-point advantage with five minutes remaining.
But somehow Fermoy dug deep and a run of eight points without reply - including well-taken goals from substitute Shane Aherne and Gary O’Callaghan after long balls into the area dropped kindly to them - proved to be enough to see them claim the win.
L Coleman 0-8 (0-6 f), S Aherne, T Clancy, G O’Callaghan 1-0 each, J Carr 0-2 (0-1 f), D Daly, and D Lardner 0-1 each.
E Kenneally 1-10 (0-6 f), L Meade 0-2, J Meade (f), E Collins, C O’Neill, P Collins 0-1 each.
J Condon; P Murphy, J Scannell, E Clancy; A Creed, D O’Carroll, B O’Sullivan; M Brennan, D Daly; T Clancy, D Lardner, G O’Callaghan; J Carr, J Molloy, L Coleman.
A Aherne for B Twomey (ht), J O’Sullivan for B O’Sullivan (ht).
C Wilson; M McSweeney, C Twomey, S O’Sullivan; J Kelleher, E Collins, F Keane; T Twomey, P Collins; C Dineen, J Meade, R O’Sullivan; C O’Neill, E Kenneally, D Buckley.
N Kelly for R O’Sullivan (45), M Courtney for D Buckley (57), S Aherne for J Carr (53).
Brian Murphy (Carrigtwohill).
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