By John Joe Brosnan

Late Flourish Puts End To Millstreet’s rallying Cry

Newmarket regained the Duhallow minor football title after a lapse of 23 years when they turned in a very impressive performance to beat Millstreet by an eight-point margin before a big attendance at Cullen last Saturday evening.

Having conceded a goal in the first minute, Newmarket recovered well to lead by 2-4 to 1-3 at half time. And when they tightened their grip in the third quarter, boosting their lead to eight points, it was obvious that only a major turnaround in the fortunes of the teams would deprive them of the title.

Millstreet rallied in the closing stages and looked dangerous on a few occasions as they tried hard for the goal that would have given their hopes a lift, but some fine defending by the Newmarket backs held them at bay.

Over the years Millstreet have dominated this competition, winning their 26th title in 1994, while Newmarket were seeking their 5th title in Saturday evening’s game, having won their first three between 1937 and 1939 (inclusive) and adding only one since (in 1973).

It was understandable, then, that this victory sparked off huge celebrations among their supporters, with the Newmarket pipe band leading a parade through the town on the team’s return from Cullen and festivities going on long into the night.

It was Millstreet who snatched the initiative from the start and within a minute Finbarr O’Leary goaled after a quick move from the midfield region. They mounted a few promising raids in the succeeding minutes and the Newmarket goalkeeper, Paul Murphy, was called into action more than once to keep them from adding to their tally.

However, Newmarket eventually settled down and had their first score in the 7th minute when John Fitzpatrick, who was to play a great game, soloed upfield from the half-back line to send over the bar. And they got a great boost within a minute when Tony O’Keeffe nipped in quickly to boot the ball to the net after Colin Stack’s shot had been saved and bounced back to the edge of the square.

Denys O’Brien, who was to play a major part in Newmarket’s victory in partnership with Dermot Moynihan at midfield, added a point in the 14th minute, but Millstreet responded well, with points by Timothy Kiely and Patrick Golden bringing them level at the end of the first quarter. There was little between the teams on the play at that stage, but Newmarket took a big step forward in a three minute spell which saw Denys O’Brien scoring a goal and two points, the goal coming from a great shot and one of the points being sent over from a free.

That put Newmarket five points in front, but Millstreet rallied well before half time and took heart from a point by Patrick Coleman, a member of their intermediate team who, partnered by David Kelleher, was to play very well at midfield.

It was still all to play for, but Newmarket took a big step towards victory in the early stages of the second half when adding three points to their tally. Two of those were sent over by Jamie O’ Flynn, who worked hard to win and hold the ball an each occasion, and the other by Tony O’Keeffe from an angle to the right of the posts.

Now seven points down and faced by a difficult task, Millstreet battled hard to come back into contention but met strong resistance from a very disciplined Newmarket defence. Timothy Kiely knocked a point off the lead when sending over from a free, but they were denied further progress and Newmarket consolidated their position with points from Denys O’Brien, after taking a pass from Donnacha Murphy, and Tony O’Keeffe, who was sent away by Tim McCarthy after good work by Robbie Keane, to face the last quarter leading by 2-9 to 1-4.

Newmarket’s better balance through the field was a major factor and Millstreet found their comeback effort failed time and again by the strong Newmarket half back line of Sean O’Connor, Michael O’Keeffe and John Fitzpatrick. They had to depend on the accurate kicking of Timothy Kiely from frees to keep their hopes alive (he sent over two points) but they needed more to put a real dent in Newmarket’s lead, and it was not forthcoming.

Still, an a few occasions when Millstreet broke through towards goal they looked dangerous and it took a few fine interceptions by the Newmarket backs to break up their attempts to engineer a revitalising goal.

Having averted that danger, Newmarket returned to the offensive in the closing minutes and points by Denys O’Brien and Colin Stack clinched the title for them.

Final score was Newmarket 2-11 to Millstreet 1-6. The team on the day was as follows:

Paul Murphy
Mark Murphy		Dan Murphy		John McSweeney
Seanie F. O’Connor		Michael O’Keeffe		John Fitzpatrick (0-1)
	Dermot Moynihan (Capt.)		Denys O’Brien (1-5)
Tim McCarthy		Donnacha Murphy		Robbie Keane
Tony O’Keeffe (1-2)		Colin Stack (0-1)		Jamie O’Flynn (0-2)

Referee John O’Mahony, Kanturk.