Original Report: The Corkman, Friday, July 10th, 1987.

By John Joe Brosnan.

Newmarket win a thrilling Examiner Cup final

NEWMARKET won a memorable Examiner Cup final with almost the last kick of their game against Boherbue at Kanturk on Sunday evening. Played before a large attendance in ideal conditions, it was a contest that provided wonderful entertainment for the big attendance, with both teams showing tremendous determination in their quest for the trophy.

It was a plucky display by Newmarket, for they had to show great character in the last ten minutes to stem what appeared to be a rising Boherbue tide. With eight minutes to go Boherbue were three points in front and playing well enough to suggest that they had the strength and resilience to take the trophy.

The first shot in Newmarket’s comeback effort came when Donncha Moynihan sent over a fine point, and within a minute the game took a dramatic turn in Newmarket’s favour when Niall O’Callaghan goaled after some great work by Brendan Daly in winning a ball in the midfield region. This put Newmarket a point in front but Boherbue broke downfield and when John Fitzgerald kicked a point from a free it was level with five minutes left and many people were thinking in terms of a draw.

Excitement was at a high pitch as both sides sought the winning score and it was Newmarket who git the vital break when Danny Culloty fielded a mighty ball in the midfield region and sent Brendan Daly through for the winning point.

Newmarket’s late flourish came after a barren period of twenty-two minutes in the second half when they failed to score while Boherbue sent over five points.

The first half was closely contested, with Newmarket getting off to a great start with a goal by Brendan Daly from Donal Flaherty’s pass in the fourth minute. A point by John Sheehan, who was to play well in their attack, had them in great heart in the eleventh minute but they were shocked shortly afterwards when Boherbue forward John Fitzgerald intercepted an attempted clearance across the goal and sent the ball to the net. By the end of the first quarter Boherbue were level with a point by Dan O’Connnor, who played with great verve all through.

Two fine points by John Sheehan and another by Brendan Daly, the star of the Newmrket attack, against a point for Boherbue by Gene O’Connor, left Newmarket leading by 1-4 to 1-2 at the interval.

Boherbue drew level within seven minutes of the resumption, their first point in the second half resulting from a fine movement downfield involving Seamus O’Sullivan and John O’Sullivan and ending with Gene O’Connor sending over. Points by Donie Vaughan, John Fitzgerald (2) and Andrew Murphy had them three points in front with ten minutes to go.

It was not that Boherbue totally dominated the play during this period although they did look the more forceful side. Newmarket had their chances too but missed them, especially from frees.

Indeed, many Newmarket supporters were beginning to resign themselves to defeat until the great closing rally gave them a dramatic victory.

It was Newmarket’s first victory in the competition in nine years and their fourth since the competition was inaugurated 50 years ago. They were ably led by their captain, Danny Culloty, whose father, Dan Culloty, captained the Newmarket team that won the trophy thirty-nine years ago – in 1948. He was one of the first to congratulate his son after Sunday evening’s triumph.

The match was played on 5th of July in Kanturk, Final score was Newmarket 2-6 to Boherbue 1-8. The team on the day was as follows:

Bernard Dugdale
Danny O’Flynn		Sean Culloty		John Tarrant
Tommy Browne		John Bowles		Michael Cottrell
	Danny Culloty (Capt.)		Neily McCarthy
John McCarthy		Donal Flaherty		Paudie Moynihan
John Sheehan (0-3)		Brendan Daly (1-2)		Donnacha Moynihan (0-1)
Subs Charile O’Connor, Niall O’Callaghan (1-0)

Referee: John Joe Lane, Lyre.