Newmarket’s junior footballers began their Ducon Cup campaign with a home defeat to Castlemagner by 1-6 to 0-6 on Saturday evening.

The game began brightly for Newmarket with John Scanlon scoring a fine point in the second minute as Newmarket had to contend with playing into a swirling breeze. As Castlemagner began to dominate, they were also guilty of kicking a succession of wides.

Newmarket were economical in possession in the early stages with Michael Kenneally adding a well taken second point in the seventh minute. Castlemagner opened their account with an eleventh minute point but as the conditions deteriorated considerably throughout the contest they had numerous wides all through the game. Castlemagner eventually took the lead when a speculative effort from an acute angle nestled into the top corner of the Newmarket net in the twenty first minute. Two points quickly followed as they gained a four point advantage. Newmarket cut the deficit late in the half with Shane Murphy slotting over a free to leave the scoreline reading 1-3 to 0-3 at half time.

Shane Murphy was again on target early into the second half but Castlemagner replied with a point two minutes later. The second half followed a similar pattern to the first as Castlemagner enjoyed the superior of the possession and despite two further points by the end of the third quarter; they were again guilty of wayward shooting as they built up a lead of 1-6 to 0-4. Newmarket to their credit kept plugging away and were driven on by the efforts of Pa O’Brien and John McSweeney in defence. Shane Murphy added two further points to his tally as Newmarket came to within a goal of their opponents but eventually time ran out and the visitors claimed an opening day victory.

The Newmarket team and scorers…
Shane Murphy (0-4), Michael Kenneally (0-1), John Scanlon (0-1)

David Quinlan
Michael O’Leary		John McSweeney		Pa O’Brien
Sean Doody		Brendan Stack		David Enright
	Robert Stack		Conor Cronin
Gavin Forde		Shane Murphy		Michael Kenneally
John Scanlon		Liam O’Callaghan		Bryan O’Connell
Subs: Patrick Kelly, Andy Twomey, Nicky Barrett, Con McAuliffe, Donnacha Drumm