Newcestown hold off Blarney comeback in epic Senior A Hurling final replay
Newcestown players celebrate the win over Blarney in the Co-Op Superstores SAHC final replay at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
THE incredible story of Newcestown has yet another amazing chapter after their hurlers edged Blarney in an epic replay of the Co-Op Superstores SAHC in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday.
In the final analysis, the West Cork men were just that bit more balanced as their three first-half goals along with superb performances from Eddie Keneally, Richard O’Sullivan and Luke Meade proved to be crucial. That they lost out in the game of the season will be of little solace to Blarney for whom Pádraig Power and Shane Barrett starred, but they will go again as top-grade hurling returns to West Cork for 2024.
In an astoundingly good first half of hurling, Newcestown’s nose for green flags was the only difference between two well-matched sides. Blarney made the early running, as they led by 0-4 to 0-1 after 7 minutes with the pick of the scores coming from Barrett after he was picked out by his inter-county colleague Mark Coleman. Newcestown had hit three wides, but they soon found their range and trailed 0-5 to 0-4 with O’Sullivan, who won an appeal against last week’s red card to take his place, scoring two of their points.
Then came their first major as David Buckley turned over the ball allowing Colm Dinneen to fire it towards Kenneally whose touch was true and strike pure. Moments later, Buckley broke a long delivery to Dinneen who planted it past Conor Murphy. Dinneen followed up with a point and his side were in total control.
Both sides then jabbed away at each other and when Cian Barrett split the posts for Blarney, there was only four between them, 2-8 to 0-10. Then came the third major. Seán O’Donovan plucked a Cathal Wilson puckout from the air and popped it off to O’Sullivan who found the bottom corner as the Newcestown faithful found themselves in wonderland.
A subsequent point from Buckley put Newcestown three goals to the good but Blarney rallied, hitting four in a row, Shane Barrett with two of them, before a Kenneally free gave Newcestwon a 3-10 to 0-14 halftime lead.
They went on to edge the opening six minutes of the second period by 0-3 to 0-2, O’Sullivan with two, again, before Blarney began to make some inroads.
Their triumvirate of Barrett, Power and Coleman all scored, and there was just three in it going into the final quarter. And then, the scoring stopped as Newcestown hit three wides, Murphy saved acrobatically from Kenneally before Power and Kenneally finally ended the eight-minute stalemate as they exchanged scores.
Blarney kept pushing and hit three of the next four to make it a one-point game with three minutes to play. Kenneally then traded frees with Barrett and just as the Newcestown tank looked to be running on empty, substitute Ciarán O’Donovan got his hands on the ball and arrowed over a stunning score worthy of winning any game.
The roar that greeted it chimed of victory as Newcestown will dine at the top table of Cork hurling for the first time since 2019.
E Kenneally 1-6 (0-5 f), R O’Sullivan 1-4, C Dinneen 1-1, E Collins 0-2, S O’Donovan, D Buckley, J Meade (sl), C O’Donovan 0-1 each.
S Barrett 0-9 (0-4 f, 0-1 65), P Power 0-4, M Coleman (0-1 sl), S Mulcahy, J O’Keeffe 0-2 each, C Dunlea, C Hegarty, C McCarthy, E Kirby, C Barrett 0-1 each.
C Wilson; J Kelleher, M McSweeney, G O’Donovan; C O’Neill, L Meade, E Collins; T Twomey, N Kelly; S O’Donovan, J Meade, D Buckley; E Kenneally, C Dinneen, R O’Sullivan.
T Horgan for Kelly (46), S O’Sullivan for Dinneen (53), F Keane for Kelleher (60), C O’Donovan for O’Sullivan (61).
C Murphy; P O’Leary, D Murphy, S Crowley; J O’Keeffe, P Crowley, C Power (c); O Hegarty, C Hegarty; S Mulcahy, M Coleman, C Barrett; S Barrett, P Power, C Dunlea.
C McCarthy for C Power (h-t), E Kirby for Dunlea (35).
Cathal McAllister (Aghada).
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