Bravery and Ryan O'Keeffe's 'wonder free' puts Newmarket in strong position

Newmarket have been delighted to defy expectations so far as they defeated last year’s Senior A runners-up Cill na Martra, despite falling behind to a late goal.

Ryan O’Keeffe’s 62nd-minute two-point free carried them to a 0-15 to 1-11 victory, but manager Keith Moynihan was quick to recognise that his Duhallow outfit would still need another big-name scalp against Carbery Rangers if they are to secure group-stage progression for the first time since 2023.

“When the goal goes in at the end, I'm sure a lot of people think that's it or that could be the defining score, but we're just delighted with ourselves,” said Moynihan.

“The belief that the boys had, they got hands on ball the next couple of kick-outs and even though we missed one or two, they kept going. It was a wonder free by Ryan at the end that goes over the bar.”

Scrutinising their group, Moynihan points out that Newmarket have been thrown in with two of the championship front-runners, so they are guaranteed nothing yet.

A win against Carbery Rangers would confirm a semi-final bye. A defeat would see them eliminated if Cill na Martra beat O’Donovan Rossa with a four-point score-difference swing.

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The Gaeltacht club know that margin of victory would see them through regardless of the other result as Newmarket and Ross both have a plus-six score difference against their plus two.

“A lot of people will talk, and rightly so, that Cill na Martra will be there or thereabouts and Carbery Rangers would be up there with them,” said Moynihan.

“The way the draw was restructured, it was teams 1-6 and teams 7-12, so I'd say in the old system, we probably got two Pot 1 teams, if you like.

It's a group of death. Anything can happen there again in the last round.

“We still have to do the same thing we'd have to do in round three anyway. Cill na Martra are the same. It's all to play for in round three.” 

Cill na Martra’s goal and another final-quarter chance originated from Newmarket mistakes, so Moynihan still sees room to improve.

“Darren (O’Keeffe) had a superb game for us. The little slip that lets them in for the goal, that was just the way the game was going,” said Moynihan.

“To be fair to Josh (O’Keeffe), you'd have to say that he makes two very, very important saves. Big saves. The defence scrambled back then to get it away.

“We made those two or three mistakes. I don't know, would you put that down to maybe a little bit of nervousness? 

The lads are playing at a higher level than us in Division 1.

“It's down to bravery after that, that we still are showing to win the ball, and to come out with it.

“It was a serious battle. We felt it was going to be a bit more tactical than the first day out. They’re on the road together for a while and we just felt that they'd have an excellent shape and structure and that the game would be slowed down a lot. It probably wouldn't be end-to-end.

“That little bit of rain probably meant that the shooting efficiency wasn't as good as it was the first day for both teams. Anything like a handpass or contact turned it more into a battle as well.” 

Moynihan will hope to have Gavin Forde and Barry O’Connor back from 'minor' injuries for the final round on September 13th.