Newmarket played the wind for a fast start against O'Donovan Rossa

In the last two seasons, Newmarket have lost their Senior A Football Championship opener and failed to qualify. Defeating O'Donovan Rossa on Sunday is certainly a good omen if the past is anything to go by. But it very nearly wasn't the opening-day result they wanted, even after such a flying start.

Newmarket were excellent from throw-in driving straight at Skibb and dominating them on the restarts. As a result of it, they powered 0-10 to 0-0 ahead, but with football’s new rules, such leads are not always safe, as Newmarket found out.

They got there in the end to win by five, with manager Keith Moynihan pleased to get the two points after a hairy second half. “The modern game now, it just seems to be the way things go,” Moynihan said after the win. “We said it inside in the dressing room before the game. I suppose no lead is too big and no deficit is too great.

“We kind of had spoken about it. We didn't expect to get the start we did. We probably held them in on kick-outs and won breaks and we got a couple of good scores,” he added. “Some of the scores the lads kicked I'd be giving to them on another day if they'd tailed off wide because they're outside the boot, outside the arc!

“But yeah, in the second half, we knew that battle was coming.

“I suppose in particular when they start on a two-pointer but then we responded with some excellent scores at the right times. Tough battle, this grade is very, very even.” 

Rampant

Newmarket’s rampant start was their own doing, even if the wind helped a little. Moynihan elected to play with the breeze while it was there.

“We kind of felt there was a chance that the wind might drop,” he explained. “We were also trying to factor against the sun. We didn't really know would that be a problem.

“We definitely knew when we had the scoring goal, we had to make hay and get a few scores on the board,” Moynihan remarked. “But yeah, jeez. O’Donovan Rossa, they're a fantastic club.

“We knew there was fight and heart in them, we knew they'd never give up. They'd come roaring back into it, and they did.

“I suppose in the second quarter they outscored us 0-9 to 0-6. So that was their battling traits. 

Towards the end, we really had to dig in for the result.” 

And after winning the toss, their choice wasn’t just down to the wind on the day. Moynihan felt that his side needed every opportunity to settle early and build confidence, particularly given how last year ended.

“The lads were disappointed maybe with how the championship went last year,” he said. “Just at the end they were very unlucky not to get over the line against Kanturk. So there's a lot of thinking about that through the league.

We were missing players at the start so again it was kind of a late burst that I suppose saved us from relegation from Division 3. 

"So for your own confidence to get off to a good start it's important. I suppose that's what we did but jeez, you wonder about the wisdom of it then when they pulled what I felt was an eight- or nine-point lead in to six at half-time.” 

Class acts

Hugh O’Connor made himself known outside the county with his small-ball exploits for Ben O’Connor this year, but within, his footballing talent was already well-known, and he gave a brilliant showcase on Sunday.

“He did. He showed his class. Darren O'Keeffe showed his class as well with another one. Everyone was kind of working at it.

“Hugh was part of the system at this stage of the process. David Cottrell is doing a lot of work on the half-forward line and Darren O'Keeffe to kind of facilitate Hugh as well. And the boys in midfield, Cathal [Browne] and Mikey Cottrell, put in a great shift.”