Newmarket faced a long journey to Castletownbere for their latest intermediate football league encounter where the home side emerged victorious by two points, 0-16 to 1-11 on a sunny, Sunday afternoon in West Cork.

Newmarket got off to a good start with the very impressive Denys O’Brien pointing in the second minute. However, it was the home side that established an early platform as they added a succession of points by the eleventh minute to take a 0-6 to 0-1 lead. Newmarket were given a much needed lift in the next minute as Denys O’Brien who was now operating at midfield delivered a long ball goal wards and John Lane nipped in behind the Castletownbere defence to round the advancing goalkeeper and slot the ball home. Newmarket gained the impetus and points from John Lane and a converted free from Nicky Flanagan had the sides on level terms by the seventeenth minute.

Newmarket edged in front when their leading forward John Lane again found the target. The home side tied the sides for a third time in the twenty second minute before once again they put together a period of play that yielded three points in as many minutes. Newmarket ended a free flowing first half with Nicky Flanagan pointing from a free to leave them trailing at the deficit by 0-10 to 1-5.

Castletownbere doubled their lead thanks to two points within five minutes of the restart. Newmarket responded with driving force Denys O’Brien powering forward to point before Eddie Allen clipped over a neat finish in the twelfth minute of the half. Nicky Flanagan reduced the arrears to a solitary point moments later, but at this stage Newmarket saw a couple of scoring chances go a begging and were punished for some sloppy play at the other end. Castletownbere built up a three point lead once again and as the game entered the final ten minutes they added a further brace of points. Newmarket kept battling to the end. John Lane and Bart Daly added points as they tried to salvage a result. They poured forward in the final minutes but a David O’Flynn point proved mere consolation at the very death of the game.

The Newmarket team and scorers…

John Lane (1-3), Nicky Flanagan (0-3), Denys O’Brien (0-2), David O’Flynn (0-1), Bart Daly (0-1), Eddie Allen (0-1).

Niall O’Connor
Michael O’Leary		Gerard Casey		David O’Flynn
T. J. Brosnan		Brian O’Riordan		Conor Cronin
	Barry O'Leary		Mark Murphy
John Lane		Tony O'Keeffe		Sean Doody
Eddie Allen		Denys O'Brien		Nicky Flanagan
Subs: Bart Daly (0-1), Kevin O’Sullivan.