Newmarket were narrowly edged out by a single point, 3-8 to 2-10 in a home contest against Lismire in the junior B hurling league played at Newmarket on Monday evening.

Lismire began proceedings with the first point in the second minute but Paul Verling tied the scores on converting a free moments later. The game was littered with a vast number of wides on both sides throughout but two Lismire points by the twelfth minute put them into the lead. Newmarket, despite erratic shooting found parity thanks to two wonderful points from long distance by Gavin Forde and Shane Murphy after seventeen minutes of the half.

Both sides toiled and competed valiantly but failed to muster a score for eleven minutes. It was Lismire who broke the deadlock through a point and they finished the half in the best possible manner on finding the net from close range to enter the interval with a lead of 1-4 to 0-3.

Paul Verling was on target from a free moments after the restart but Newmarket were rocked as a second Lismire goal and a point, suddenly left a gap of seven points between the sides. However, Newmarket’s response was swift and impressive. John McSweeney was introduced to the action and made a telling impact to the forward division.

Six minutes into the half, Billy Lane helped a ball goalwards and Paul Verling flashed the ball home to the roof of the net and Colin O’Sullivan pointed a free from the halfway line to bring Newmarket to within three points.

The next two points were divided as Gavin Forde was on target for Newmarket. Twelve minutes into the half, Newmarket were back on level terms. Donnacha Fitzpatrick directed the slioter into the danger zone from where John McSweeney directed it over the line for a second Newmarket goal. Gavin Forde gave Newmarket the lead for the first time but they only enjoyed this advantage for barely a minute as Lismire struck for a third goal.

A Paul Verling free left Newmarket trailing by 3-6 to 2-8 after an action packed and high scoring third quarter. Robert Stack made a major contribution on his introduction and did well to point from a crowded area to tie the sides for a fourth time, with nine minutes remaining. Again, both sides were very wasteful and this added to the drama of the second half. With time running out Lismire added two points but again Robert Stack answered with a point for Newmarket.

However, in the closing moments Newmarket could not muster an equalizing score and were left to dwell on a narrow defeat.

The Newmarket team and scorers…

Paul Verling (1-3), Gavin Forde (0-3), John McSweeney (1-0), Robert Stack (0-2), Colin O’Sullivan (0-1),  Shane Murphy (0-1).

Shane McAuliffe
Alan Forde		Nicky Barrett		Michael O’Leary
Eamon Murphy		Gavin Forde		David Enright
	Colin O'Sullivan		Eddie Allen
Kieran Lehane		Shane A Murphy		Jack Birthley
Donnacha Fitzpatrick		Billy Daly		Paul Verling
Subs: Billy Lane, John McSweeney, Robert Stack, Brendan Stack.