Clonakilty and Newcestown both looking up after five league games

Clonakilty and Newcestown have much to build on following last weekend’s McCarthy Insurance Group Division 1 League clash in Newcestown.

The visitors emerged with a one-point victory, 1-14 to 1-13, thanks to Conor Daly’s injury-time winner.

Newcestown dominated most of the second half but lost for the first time in this year’s county league after Richard O’Sullivan’s difficult free trailed wide right at the death.

Clonakilty coach Eoin Ryan welcomed a temporary return to the top of the Division 1 standings as much as the character shown by his team in winning out by a single point.

“We showed great character. I thought we were very impressive in the first half, but, the second half, we didn’t start it well. They came back into it and took the lead.

“We kept at it, and, you know, Newcestown is a tough place to come to. We are delighted with the win.

“The way we won it, to dig it out at the end and play controlled football to kick that last score. To go one point up and see it out to the end, yeah, we are delighted.

“It’s two points on the board. We are up to seven now. 

You would be thinking seven points would keep you safe but you don’t know the way the league is this year.” 

As for Newcestown, Jim O’Sullivan rued a below-par first half and the fact his side ended up dropping seven attempts into goalkeeper Mark White’s hands during a one-point loss.

“I suppose, at half time, I didn’t think we had played well in the first half,” the Newcestown manager admitted.

“Clonakilty taught us a lesson with their movement and their scoring.

“We stepped it up in the second half. 

I suppose, when you look at it, beaten by a point and our second-half performance, we will take something out of it. 

"The first half let us down.” 

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Newcestown finished with eight different scorers on an afternoon inter-county forward David Buckley was on Munster championship duty with Cork. In a game played at times at championship intensity, the losing manager was pleased with his team’s second-half efforts.

“Look, with the new rules and two-pointers, we got two of them in the second half,” O’Sullivan added.

“We would be happy with that. In general, I thought it was a super game of football. The pace of the game, we hadn’t seen that pace yet and Clonakilty brought that in the first half. It took us a while to get used to it. Their movement was exceptional.

“Championship is probably three months away. We have a lot of players out at the moment. That’s the nature of Division 1 football in the league.” 

Emerging with a win from such a hard-fought battle, Clonakilty were pleased to temporarily return to the top of Division 1. Ending a two-game winless streak was as important as the West Cork club’s third league victory of the campaign.

“I suppose, the last couple of games, we wouldn’t have been happy with,” Ryan concluded.

“Well, the last game against the Haven, conditions were very poor. It was a perfect day for football today and I think we played well. Any day you win is a good day but to come here and win is kind of special.”