All roads lead to Páirc Uí Rinn on Sunday evening when the Newmarket under 21 football team will create history by participating in the County Under 21 Football Final for the very first time against St. Finbarrs at 7:30pm.

This particular panel of players have excelled down through the years and provided the club with many memorable occasions. They eventually made the breakthrough at under 16 level in Duhallow four years ago and in fact were pitted against St. Finbarrs in the county championship where the city side emerged victorious.

At minor level Newmarket enjoyed considerable success with the bulk of these players winning three successive Duhallow football championships between 2004/06 and completing a league and championship double in the latter two years.

In 2005 this current side progressed to the county final in both the championship and league. After claiming the Duhallow championship against Clara by 2-6 to 0-8, they progressed in the county championship on defeating Tracton, 1-11 to 1-5 and in the semi final, Fermoy were defeated by 2-13 to 1-9. On December 11th in the County Final at Ovens, Bandon ran out convincing winners by 4-9 to 0-4.

The Newmarket side that day was…

Niall O’Connor
David Guiney		John Scanlon		Robert Stack
Conor Cronin		Bart Daly		Brian O’Riordan
	Kevin O’Sullivan		Timothy Murphy (0-1)
John Ryan		T.J. Bodie (0-3)		Nicky Flanagan
John Lane		Michael Kenneally		Jerry McCarthy
SUBS: Paul Cashman, Willliam Lehane, Shane Drumm, Billy Hourigan, Owen Guerin

Newmarket defeated Knocknagree in the Duhallow minor football league final by 1-13 to 3-5 and defeated Carrigtwohill at the latters venue in the county semi final by 0-11 to 1-3. The final against Canovee took place in Dromtariffe on January 29th, 2006 and Newmarket recorded a memorable victory and claimed county honours on a 0-11 to 0-6 victory.

The victorious Newmarket side was

Niall O’Connor
David Guiney		John Scanlon		Robert Stack
Conor Cronin		Bart Daly (0-1)		Brian O’Riordan
	Kevin O’Sullivan		Timothy Murphy
John Ryan (0-1)		T.J. Bodie (0-1)		Nicky Flanagan (0-3)
John Lane (0-2)		Michael Kenneally (0-1)		Jerry McCarthy
SUBS: Micheál O’Connell (0-2), Owen Guerin, Paul Cashman, William Lehane

Progression to under 21 level resulted in a Duhallow final appearance in 2006 and a narrow defeat to Kiskeam by 1-10 to 1-8 in the final. Newmarket went one better last year on defeating Boherbue in the Duhallow final after a replay, 2-12 to 1-8 at Dromtariffe on April 29th.

The Newmarket side that night was…

Niall O’Connor
David Guiney		Paul Cashman		Brian O’Riordan
Conor Cronin		Bart Daly (captain)		Sean Doody
	Kevin O’Sullivan (1-1)		Micheal Murphy
T.J. Bodie (1-1)		John Ryan (0-3)		Timothy Murphy
John Lane (0-4)		Ricky Reidy		Nicky Flanagan (0-3)
SUBS: Michael Kenneally, Sean Irwin, Micheal O’Connell, Michael O’Callaghan, William Lehane, Robert Stack, Ian Flanagan and John Scanlon

Newmarket have played seven games at under 21 level this year beginning on February 29th against Knocknagree and three games have ended in draws. The county championship campaign began with a draw with Carrigaline, 0-7 apiece at Donoughmore on June 28th. A strong display in the final ten minutes enabled Newmarket to edge the replay by 0-10 to 1-6 at the same venue on July 23rd. The semi final against Fermoy also ended level, 1-9 to 2-6 at Mallow on August 9th with Newmarket claiming victory in the replay by 1-11 to 0-7 on August 22nd.

The very best of luck to all the players and their dedicated mentors, Paul Murphy, Ben O’Keeffe, Pat Flanagan and Pat O’Brien and no doubt the team will get the level of support they truly deserve on the night.

Ath Trasna Abu.