Newmarket’s under 21 football team qualified for the County semi final, for the third successive year, when they earned a hard fought but merited victory over Ballymartle in the quarter final by 1-11 to 2-6 on a greasy Coachford surface on Sunday evening.

Both sides took time to settle before Newmarket’s potent full forward John Lane registered the first point of the hour in the seventh minute. He added a second from a free in the tenth minute before Ballymartle got off the mark with a thirteenth minute score. A sublime move that spanned the length of the pitch sparked the contest to life as Newmarket in full flow blitzed through the length of the pitch with some slick passing before John Scanlon placed John Lane in on goal and he finished expertly to the net in the fifteenth minute. Ballymartle hit back with a goal of their own within three minutes and a quickfire point tied the sides at 1-2 apiece after twenty minutes. Newmarket gained the advantage towards the end of the half with Nicky Flanagan and John Ryan on target; and they turned over in front by 1-4 to 1-2.

Ballymartle halved the deficit within a minute of the restart before Bart Daly landed a huge converted free from long distance for Newmarket. John Lane and John Ryan helped Newmarket into a four point lead before Ballymartle added their next score. The impressive Nicky Flanagan then pointed for Newmarket before the game took another twist when Ballymartle went on to score a second goal. They added a point at the end of the quarter which tied the sides for only the second time at 1-8 to 2-5. Newmarket regained the impetus as the game entered the final ten minutes with Nicky Flanagan converting with an excellent pointed free from a difficult angle. Within a minute John Lane raced in on goal to score a fine individual point. Ballymartle responded with a point but Newmarket were not to be outdone and once more John Lane was on hand to score a crucial point and Newmarket edged a tight contest by 1-11 to 2-6.

The Newmarket team was…

David Quinlan
David Guiney		Brian O’Riordan		Michael O’Leary
Conor Cronin		Paul Cashman		Robert Stack
	Kevin O’Sullivan		Bart Daly (0-1)
Ian Flanagan		John Ryan (0-2)		Jerry McCarthy
John Scanlon		John Lane (1-5)		Nicky Flanagan (0-3)
SUBS: Anthony Lynch, Eddie Allen