Newmarket’s campaign in this years premier intermediate football championship came to an end when they were defeated by Youghal on Saturday evening last by 1-10 to 1-6 at a windswept Ballyhooly.

Playing with the aid of a driving wind and rain Newmarket took the lead in their first attack of the game when Seanie Francis O’Connor converted a free in the second minute. Both sides struggled to cope with the extreme conditions and the quality of the game was dictated by the elements. After a number of opportunities, Youghal eventually equalized with a point after fifteen minutes. Newmarket’s best attack of the half saw Kevin O’Connor force a fine save from the Youghal goalkeeper with Shane Anthony Murphy on hand to slot over a point from the resulting passage of play. Newmarket were indebted to goalkeeper James Morgan who produced a super save before the interval to keep Newmarket’s lead intact, 0-2 to 0-1 after the opening half.

Three minutes after the restart Newmarket faced an uphill battle when Youghal converted a penalty. Shane Anthony Murphy who was having a fine game at midfield was again on hand to slot over a point for Newmarket instantly. Youghal pointed next but Newmarket battled resiliently throughout the half and Kevin O’Connor was soon on target. A brace of points from Youghal gave them a three point lead but Newmarket again hit back when a fine solo run from Micheal Hourigan set up Kevin O’Connor and he offloaded to Seanie Francis O’Connor who deftly touched the ball past the advancing goalkeeper for an equalizing goal and left the game delicately balanced at 1-4 each at the three quarter mark.

Youghal edged in front but Kevin O’Connor tied the proceedings for a third time with just over ten minutes to play. Five minutes later Youghal took a grip of the game with four points in quick succession as the wind played a key role in pinning Newmarket into their own half. The tireless David O’Flynn pointed late but Youghal completed their victory with the final point of the game to leave the score 1-10 to 1-6.

Newmarket were well served with a number of fine performances from John McSweeney, Denys O’Brien, Shane Anthony Murphy and David O’Flynn but Youghal’s ability to utilize the conditions in the second half paved the way for their victory.

James Morgan
Dermot Moynihan		John McSweeney		Matthew Fitzpatrick
Pa O’Brien		Denys O’Brien		Gerard Sheahan
	Shane Anthony Murphy (0-2)		Jerry McCarthy
Colin O’Sullivan		David O’Flynn (0-1)		Mark Reidy
John Lane		Seanie Francis O’Connor (1-1)		Kevin O’Connor (0-2)
SUBS: Micheal Hourigan, Tony O’Keeffe, Dan Murphy