Newmarket recorded their second victory of the week in the junior B hurling league with a well earned home win over Lismire by 1-9 to 0-8 at Newmarket on Friday evening.

In a game played in blustery cold and at times wet conditions, Lismire opened the scoring with a point in the seventh minute. Newmarket tied the scores in the next minute through Paul Verling before points from Billy Daly and Conor Cronin gave Newmarket a two point lead midway through the half. Lismire replied as they reeled off three points in succession to regain the lead. The scoring rate increased towards the end of the half. Gavin Forde brought Newmarket on terms with a converted free but Lismire edged in front moments later. The half concluded well for Newmarket as Gavin Forde added two late points to gain a narrow lead of 0-6 to 0-5.

The second half got off to a flying start as Newmarket centre half back, Michael Kenneally rampaged forward on a memorable solo run before supplying an equally spectacular finish for a superbly taken point. Conditions deteriorated and scoring opportunities became few a far between at this stage, though Newmarket were more guilty as the number of wides added up.

As the third quarter came to a conclusion, a dangerously delivered ball by Gavin Forde across to face of the Lismire goal found Paul Verling on hand to supply the finishing touch to the back of the net. Lismire scored their first point of the half after eighteen minutes but Gavin Forde restored a five point advantage on converting a free with nine minutes remaining. Newmarket dealt with the Lismire challenge with Paudie Allen and Robert Stack to the fore in defence and Gavin Forde added to his own personal tally by slotting over his sixth point of the game as the game entered the closing minutes. Lismire were committed to the end and a couple of late points ensured that Newmarket had to hold firm to the very end to ensure victory.

The Newmarket team and scorers…

Gavin Forde (0-6), Paul Verling (1-1), Michael Kenneally (0-1), Conor Cronin (0-1), Billy Daly (0-1).

Shane McAuliffe
Paudie Allen		Brendan Stack		Michael O’Leary
David Enright		Michael Kenneally		Robert Stack
	Eddie Allen		Conor Cronin
David Quinlan		Billy Daly		Jonathan Flaherty
Gavin Forde		John McSweeney		Paul Verling
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