The last 20 minutes of this match was all I saw but that last 20 minutes had everything. Fine performances all over the field from goalie to cornerforward but there was one moment that stood out. The momentum had been with Corofin but then we scored a smashing goal to level. Quick as a flash the ball was pucked out and Corofin won possession. Their #11 tore through the middle of our defence on a solo from which a score looked inevitable. Coming behind him though was one of our midfielders and I’d say he started fully 15 yards behind. This lad has serious pace though and more importantly a serious attitude. When it came to the moment of truth, and Corofin #11 pulled the trigger, our man arrived just in time to put a hurley in. The shot was fluffed and we cleared. Every game is made up of a thousand such moments. Some of them though live a lot longer than just a moment.
Colm Liddy
Match report by Maurice Gough
The road works had finished for the evening and a crowd both enthusiastic and loud were gathered for the semi final of the U14B Shield which saw Newmarket play Corofin. We were missing a few players due to illness. (We wish Cathal Crimmins, Emmet Calvey and Robert Hanton and speedy recovery). The pitch as always was in excellent condition. The sun was shining into the Ballycar end and Newmarket won the toss and elected to play into the town end. The match was slow to start and Corofin went into a 3 point lead before Newmarket eventually started to pick off some excellent points and then quickly followed with a goal. The Corofin keeper was on form and brought off some excellent saves to deny us on several occasions. We led 1-5 to 3 points at half time.
The second half started well for Newmarket and we went into a 7 point lead only for Corofin to score two goals in quick succession and a point to draw level with 12 Mins remaining. Newmarket picked up the pace again and scored 2 goals and started to pick off some excellent points. Newmarket eventually won on a score of 3.10 to 2.5. This was a good game of hurling and both sides had a periods of dominance and the Corofin keeper was in great form and brought off many good saves. The Corofin Midfielder was injured in the first half with what looked like a broken hand and we wish him well. We are now in the final against Cratloe and date and time to be confirmed.
Well done to all and all the support was really appreciated.
Newmarket on fergus: Daniel Meehan; Michael Caldwell, Darragh Jones, Ronan O’Rourke; Brian Morrissey, Adam Enright, Cathal Cullilane; Daniel McDarby, Shane Reale; Aaron Moroney, Alex Byrne, Sean Arthur; Michael Power, John Lynch, Mark Kelly
Subs: John Hogan for Kelly, Eric Ng, Conor Crowe.