Cork hurler Hugh O'Connor shines as Newmarket edge Senior A thriller with O'Donovan Rossa
Darren Daly, O'Donovan Rossa, tries to keep pace with Barry O'Connor, Newmarket, in the McCarthy Insurance Group SAFC game at Macroom. Picture: Jim Coughlan.
Twelve minutes was all Newmarket needed to build a lead that O’Donovan Rossa would spend the next 48 plus added time trying to catch.
And though they came uncomfortably close, the west Cork men never managed it in this Senior A Football Championship opener, and Newmarket prevailed.
The scoreboard read 0-10 to 0-0 here in Macroom after 12 minutes. With the footballing rules of the past, that would be enough – and some – to seal it. Fortunately, that no longer rings true.
Skibb had cut the 10-point deficit after 12 minutes to six by the break. They had it down to three at the 42-minute mark. Kevin Davis’ fourth two-pointer had brought them back from the brink, and when sub Colm O’Driscoll slotted over with the wind, it was game on.
Skibb’s control was then interrupted by a perfectly timed two-pointer from Cork hurler Hugh O’Connor. Darren O’Keeffe would be next to provide some heroics from downtown. Immediately after, he was set up by Brian O’Keeffe – getting his fourth assist of the evening – for another one-pointer.
And before they had time to settle in with a seven-point lead, Dylan Hourihane Snr came from nowhere to thunder one into the net, setting the Skibb fire ablaze once more.
They battled on, a Davis’ free cutting Skibb’s arears to four. But, they couldn’t stop Darren O’Keeffe and O’Connor (two) from sealing the deal for Newmarket at the death.
It was far too sketchy for the Duhallow outfit, given the start they enjoyed.
There are purple patches with the breeze, and then there’s what Newmarket did with the first 12 minutes here.
Score after score, they dominated Skibb’s kickouts and powered forward at every opportunity. The scoreboard read 0-10 to 0-0 after those 12 minutes. Brian O’Keeffe was immense during this spell. He assisted the first three white flags and slotted one over himself.
Twice Newmarket slipped through for goal chances in that spell, and both times their attacker was fouled by Kevin Hurley. Skibb had no choice but to withdraw him after 13 minutes.
And they were fortunate to have that option of a replacement.
Even allowing for a little fortune, Skibb owed their hopes of a comeback to goalkeeper Derek Tobin. He made two outstanding stops during Newmarket’s lightning start, and produced a better one on 19 minutes to deny Ryan O’Keeffe one-on-one.
By that stage, the Newmarket lead was nine, 0-12 to 0-3. And it was in the 10 minutes to the short whistle that O’Donovan Rossa worked themselves back into the game, Davis knocking over three frees – two of which came from outside the arc – while Niall Daly notched one from play.
Newmarket's orange flags in that first half deserve their own mention. Cathal Browne struck the first from distance, outrageous even with the gale behind him. O'Connor's came against the grain with Skibb in control, as he curled over beautifully with the outside of the boot.
Fitting, then, that he struck again from outside the arc in the third quarter to halt Skibb's charge and spark the confidence Newmarket needed to see it out.
H O’Connor 0-8 (2 tp, 0-1 f), D O’Keeffe (1 tp), R O’Keeffe (0-2 f, 0-1 45) 0-4 each, C Browne (1 tp), B O’Connor 0-3 each, A Browne, R Lynn, D Cottrell, B O’Keeffe 0-1 each.
K Davis 0-12 (3 tpf, 1 tp, 0-3 f), D Hourihane Snr 1-0, D Shannon, T Hegarty 0-2 each, N Daly, C O’Driscoll 0-1 each.
D Tobin; J Goulding, D Daly, A Daly; C Coombes, S Fitzgerald, K Hurley; L Harte, F Coombes; N Daly, K Davis, D Hourihane; E Conghaile, D Shannon, L O’Sullivan.
C O’Driscoll for Hurley (13), O Lucey for Hourihane, D Hourihane Snr for F Coombes (both HT), T Hegarty for Shannon (38), F Hurley for D Daly (57).
J O’Keeffe; M Browne, G Forde, E Goggin; A Browne, B Daly, R Lynn; C Browne, M Cottrell; H O’Connor, D O’Keeffe, D Cottrell; B O’Keeffe, R O’Keeffe, B O’Connor.
D Murnane (Macroom)
App?
