Newmarket-on-Fergus 3-14
Clonlara 3-13
Venue: Clonlara
Life in Division 3 got off to a winning start for Newmarket-on-Fergus as they left it late to take the spoils against a Clonlara side who let it slip in the final moments.
In what was an evenly balanced contest, it seemed that the home side were going to hold on for the victory, Newmarket had other ideas as they netted two goals in as many minutes to collect the all-important two points.
Jason Murphy and Colin Guilfoyle were the first on the scoreboard for each side hitting two points each. With five minutes on the clock, Ronan Carey struck for the opening goal of the game when he caught a Kieran Galvin pass and buried the sliotar past Jack O’Connor.
Newmarket responded with a Shane Liddy point and the former county minor was on hand to set up Liam Clancy who struck the sliotar low and hard into Patrick Strich’s net to put the Blues one point in front with nine minutes played.
Kieran Galvin and Guilfoyle kept the scoreboard ticking over for each outfit for the remainder of the half from placed balls while a Paul Barry point left the hosts one point clear at the interval.
Murphy was once again first off the mark, on the resumption but his effort was cancelled out by a Colin Guilfoyle sideline cut. Murphy raised another white flag sandwiched between two Oisin Pender points, both of which were set up by Cathal Finucane.
As the game entered the final quarter, Ronan Carey was on target to fire home his second goal. Minutes later, Jason Murphy hit the net when a turnover in the Clonlara defence worked its way up to the full forward who was on the money all afternoon.
Kieran Galvin increased Clonlara’s lead to five points with fifty nine minutes played but Newmarket were not done yet. They drove possession up to attack and found Colin Guilfoyle who soloed through the opposing defence striking past Stritch to cut the deficit to two points.
He had an opportunity to bag a second goal on the sixty first minute but his shot was saved, luckily for them Oisin Pender was on hand to flick the rebound to the back of the net. Both freetakers, Guilfoyle and Galvin then spurned chances before Gus Callaghan sounded the final whistle.
Jason Murphy and Kieran Galvin stood out for Clonlara while Newmarket had strong performances from Colin Guilfoyle, Alan McInerney and Liam Clancy.
Newmarket-on-Fergus: Jack O’Connor, Paudie Conway, Martin Frawley, Conor McCarthy; Pa Duggan, Alan McInerney, James Warren; John Feehily, Neil Ryan; James Freeman, Colin Guilfoyle (1-11 8f 1SC); Oisin Pender (1-02), Shane Liddy (0-01), Liam Clancy (1-00). Subs: David McNamara for Ryan (47)
Clonlara: Patrick Stritch; Jeff Ryan, Patrick Clancy, Sean Moriarty; Patrick Conlon, Patrick O’Hare, Senan Nihill; Michael White (0-01), Paul Barry (0-01); Eoin Meehan (0-01), Fionnán O’Brien, Ken Haskett; Ronan Carey (2-00), Jason Murphy (1-05), Kieran Galvin (0-05 4f).
Referee: Gus Callaghan (Feakle)