Original Report: The Corkman, Friday, August 14th, 1998.

By John Joe Brosnan.

Culloty inspires Newmarket to victory.

Strong finish ends Kiskeam’s reign as Duhallow junior football champions.

NEWMARKET qualified for the semi-final of the Duhallow junior football championship when a strong finish took them to victory over reigning champions Kiskeam in a hard-fought game played before a big attendance at Kanturk on Sunday.

Kiskeam led by a point with a quarter of an hour to go, but from then on Newmarket were the dominant side, shooting seven points to Kiskeam’s two to win by a four-point margin.

The game was still tightly balanced ten minutes from time, with Newmarket leading by two points, but four spectacular points between then and the end by Danny Culloty, who was undoubtedly the man of the match. sealed the issue in Newmarket’s favour.

Most of the scoring was packed into the second half, for the teams were very wasteful with their chances in the first thirty minutes, at the end of which Newmarket led by 1-1 to 0-2.

That was a very poor return for a lot of vigorous play, and could be put down to erratic shooting, good play by the respective defences and the failure of the forwards on both sides to play with any real cohesion.

Indeed, it was a disappointing first half, more notable for the frustration of both sides in their scoring efforts than for its positive elements.

Most of the good play came from the backs and midfielders. While there were some creditable individual efforts in attack, neither side displayed the teamwork one has come to expect of them, with attacking movements either breaking down or culminating in erratic shooting.

Matters improved in the second half, although Kiskeam never achieved their usual fluency, and it was not until the last quarter that Newmarket played their best football, first when they scored three points in quick succession and then when Danny Culloty took over in the midfield region and lofted over the points that proved crucial to the result.

The first 24 minutes of the game provided only two points, both scored by Kiskeam. Jimmy Dennehy had the first from a free in the 10th minute and ten minutes later, John Herlihy, playing at midfield instead of in his usual corner-forward position, shot the second.

Kiskeam looked the more threatening side during this period, but their shooting was erratic and their best chance of a goal was foiled when the Newmarket keeper, James Morgan, brought off a fine save from Eamon O’Mahony.

The Newmarket backs must get credit for good defending which mostly forced Kiskeam to go wide in their efforts to find a way through, thus making the angles more difficult.

With the Kiskeam backs also playing soundly, Newmarket were achieving little at the other end, with their efforts to string meaningful movements together being foiled by tight marking and some good interceptions.

However, the break that Newmarket had been seeking for a long time came in the 24th minute when midfielder Denis O’Brien raced forward with the ball and delivered towards the corner of the square, where John Paul O’Neill rose to it and punched to the net.

O’Neill tried for a second goal shortly afterwards after taking a good pass from John Fitzpatrick, only to have his shot saved by Kiskeam keeper Sam O’Sullivan.

Newmarket had their first point in the 26th minute when Denis O’Brien sent over alter being put in possession by John Sheehan. That sent them into the break leading by 1-1 to 0-2.

Two points from frees brought Kiskeam level within three minutes of the resumption. the first scored by Jimmy Dennehy and the second by Niall Cronin, and a point by David O’Leary, who gained possession from a free by Maurice Angland had them a point in front in the 40th minute.

With Newmarket being wasteful with their scoring chances during the third quarter during which they failed to score it looked as if Kiskeam were the more likely side to win due to their well known reputation for strong finishes.

But they failed to make further ground against the Newmarket defence, which was playing very solidly and the game took an important turn in Newmarket’s favour in the 47th minute when they scored three points in as many minutes.

John Sheehan fired the first shot in their rally when shooting a fine point after good work by John Cronin, one of their most impressive players on the day. John Paul O’Neill added another point immediately afterwards and Tony O’Keeffe (who had just come on the team) had the third after a good run through the Kiskeam defence.

Now trailing by two points, Kiskeam (who had suffered a blow when losing Jimmy Dennehy through injury in the 40th minute) attempted a recovery and a goaling effort was foiled when Newmarket keeper James Morgan saved from David O’Leary.

Then, with eight minutes to go, Danny Culloty made the first of his major contributions to the game when kicking a long-distance free over the bar. He repeated the performance two minutes later, this time from a free from sixty yards out.

And when he fielded magnificently at midfield and sent another mighty kick over the bar Newmarket were five points clear and looking good.

Kiskeam true to form. tried to make a meaningful comeback and had a point from a free by Niall Cronin five minutes frorn time.They failed to make futher progress, however, and another long-distance point by Culloty had Newmarket’s place in the semi-final safe before Niall Cronin had the last word for Kiskeam two minutes from time.

The match was played on 9th of August in Kanturk, Final score was Newmarket 1-08 to Kiskeam 0-07. The team on the day was as follows:

James Morgan
Michael O’Keeffe		Dan Murphy		Dave Allen
Dermot Moynihan		James Cashman		Maurice Hourigan
	Denys O’Brien (0-1)		Michael Cottrell
John Cronin		John Paul O’Neill Capt. (1-1)		Mark O’Sullivan
John Fitzpatrick		Danny Culloty (0-4, 0-2 frees)		John Sheehan (0-1)
Subs: Tony O’Keeffe (0-1).

Kiskeam: S O’Sullivan: D Cremin, E Angland, B Breen, D Angland, R Murphy, M Angland, T Scannell, J Herlihy, N Cronin, R Dennehy, J Doody, J Dennehy, E O’Mahony, S O’Leary, Sub: D O’Leary for J Dennehy.

Scorers for Kiskeam: N. Cronin 0-3 (0-2 frees), J. Dennehy 0-2 (frees), J. Herlihy, D. O’Leary 0-l each.

Referee: John O’Mahony, Kanturk.