Newmarket-on-Fergus qualified for the semi-finals of the Clare Cup when they completed a league and championship double over Clooney/Quin on Saturday evening.
Newmarket-on-Fergus 3-16
Clooney/Quin 1-16
Venue: Fr Murphy Memorial Park
In a repeat pairing of the championship first round clash in which Newmarket ran out winners by three points, Saturday evening saw Clooney/Quin determined to make amends but on this outing the gap between them was extended to six points.
It was fairly even for the first fifteen minutes until Cathal Hayes picked up a breaking ball, bypassed a few tackles and struck past Keith Hogan for the first green flag. Evan Keogh collected the point of the first half, in a well-worked team move the wing-back found space and slotted over from distance.
Newmarket’s second goal towards the end of the first half was a great finish, a pass from Mikey McInerney, he was unstoppable getting past the opposition defence before laying off to Shane O’Brien who made no mistake drilling to the back of the net. This left the half-time score 2-09 0-09 in favour of the Blues.
Peter Duggan kept Clooney/Quin’s account ticking over, finishing with a tally of ten points, eight of which were placed balls, it could have been eleven only for the upright to deny him twice.
Despite hitting some wides, Newmarket were thankful to their opponents for a defensive blunder which gifted them a third goal as James McInerney landed a long range free to the square which ended up in the net as it deflected off a Clooney/Quin defender.
Clooney/Quin eventually broke through the solid Blues defence to score their only goal with one minute left, Duggan passed Daire Hannon whose shot left Ronan McCormack with no chance. The last puck of the game was a 21m free for the visitors but this McCormack pulled off a fine save to deny Peter Duggan a green flag.
As they prepare for Doora/Barefield in two weeks time, Newmarket will need to be more economical in front of goal, it is estimated that they hit eleven wides over the hour. At the other end they conceded eight points from frees so that is another area to work on.
Shane O’Brien & James McInerney stood out for the Blues while the Corry brother Michael & James along with Peter Duggan impressed for Clooney/Quin.
Newmarket-on-Fergus: Ronan McCormack; Eoin O’Brien, James McInerney, Shane Kelleher; Liam O’Connor, Enda Barrett, Evan Keogh; Sean O’Connor, Shane O’Brien; Colin Guilfoyle, Mikey McInerney, Ronan Good; Cathal Hayes, Stephen Kelly, Eoin Hayes. Subs: Shane O’Brien Jnr for C Hayes (HT), Martin O’Hanlon for Barrett (40), James Liddy for L O’Connor (46), Paudie McMahon for Kelly (54), Noel Frawley for Good (56).
Referee: Johnny Healy (Smith O’Briens)