Newmarket travelled to Freemount on Monday evening and were defeated by the home side, 4-6 to 0-12 in the junior B hurling league.

Newmarket got off to a great start, hurling well from the outset. Darren O’Keeffe swept over a point in the third minute and Robert Stack doubled the advantage four minutes later. Seanie Francis O’Connor who was in prolific form on the night, slotted over his first point when converting a ninth minute free. He added two further points as Newmarket enjoyed a five point advantage after sixteen minutes. Freemount pointed within a minute and added two points without reply. Seanie Francis O’Connor added two points from play as Newmarket restored a four point lead. Freemount responded with a point and as the half entered the final moments they registered their first goal of the night and the sides turned over level at half time, 0-7 to 1-4.

Conditions deteriorated as the game progressed as heavy showers took an effect on proceedings. Freemount, however resumed in style and took the lead thanks to a goal within a minute. A point followed six minutes later as Newmarket found it much more difficult to find their range in the second half, this despite the outstanding display of team captain Kieran Hayes ably assisted by Brendan Stack and the influential Seanie Francis O’Connor. The latter brought Newmarket back into contention when converting two frees and they trailed 2-5 to 0-9, eleven minutes into the second half. Freemount scored their third goal two minutes later and when they repeated the feat eight minutes from time, Newmarket’s task became almost impossible. To their credit, Newmarket kept up their challenge right to the end and their efforts were rewarded through points from Seanie Francis O’Connor, Robert Stack and Paul Verling. The home side confirmed the points on scoring the final point of the hour and ran out victors by six points.

The Newmarket team was

Eamon Moynihan
William O’Flynn		John Scanlon		David Kelly
T.J. Bodie		Kieran Hayes		Brendan Stack
	Seanie Francis O’Connor (0-8)		Colin O’Sullivan
Alan Forde		Robert Stack (0-2)		Timothy Murphy
Darren O’Keeffe (0-1)		Billy Daly		Donnacha Fitzpatrick
SUBS: Paul Verling (0-1)