Newmarket withstood the challenge of Mill Rovers to progress to the final of the North Cork Minor B Football Championship after a semi final victory by 1-12 to 0-7 at Liscarroll on Thursday evening.

Newmarket had the advantage of a significant breeze but Mill Rovers were first off the mark on converting a fifth minute free. Newmarket settled on finding their range through industrious midfielder Gavin Forde who pointed from an eighth minute free and some fine inter passing between a number of players led to the outstanding Paudie Allen pointing in style from distance after eleven minutes. The elements were used to a maximum midway through the half, when Daniel O’Doherty launched a huge kick that soared over the defence, which Daniel Culloty latched onto and as he raced in on goal the advancing Mill Rovers goalkeeper brought the forward down as he was being rounded. A penalty resulted and Alan Ryan strode up from his centre half back position to expertly dispatch a kick into the corner of the net. Mill Rovers were rewarded for their endeavours with a second point on twenty two minutes. Once again the long delivery proved productive for Newmarket, as this time Paudie Allen drove over the rearguard and Daniel Culloty was on hand to gather and unleash a screaming shot that narrowly grazed over the crossbar. At the other end, Shane McAuliffe gave an exhibition of goalkeeping and his first telling contribution came in the twenty fourth minute when he thwarted a stinging goal bound shot to safety. As the half concluded, Newmarket managed to add to their total through Gavin Forde and a neatly taken point by Danny O’Connell. This enabled Newmarket to turn over with a lead of 1-5 to 0-2.

Faced with the prospect of now playing against the wind, Newmarket began the second half brightly with Barry O’Connor a leading figure in attack. The corner forward pointed twice within a minute to stretch the margin to eight points. Eight minutes into the half and Shane McAuliffe was called into action again, this time showing great reflexes and reactions with a truly stunning save. Mill Rovers stepped up the pressure and two points resulted. Barry O’Connor was in a rich vein of form as he added two further points to his account to restore Newmarket’s sizeable lead. The sides exchanged the next two points as Daniel Culloty was on target with eight minutes remaining. Jonathan Flaherty and Daniel Culloty pointed in style as Newmarket closed in on victory. Mill Rovers were competitive to the end but simply could not find a way past Shane McAuliffe whose handling and general play matched his goalkeeping master class. The Avondhu side did register another two points as they peppered the Newmarket defence with a late onslaught but Newmarket advanced to a date in the divisional final.

The Newmarket team and scorers…

Barry O’Connor (0-4), Daniel Culloty (0-3), Alan Ryan (1-0), Gavin Forde (0-2), Padraig Allen (0-1), Jonathan Flaherty (0-1), Danny O’Connell (0-1),

Shane McAuliffe
Damien O'Keeffe		Jamie Hayes		Jeremy Murphy
Con McAuliffe		Alan Ryan		Paudie Allen
	Gavin Forde		Michael Cottrell
Peter Lynch		Jonathan Flaherty		Daniel O'Doherty
Danny O'Connell		Daniel Culloty		Barry O'Connor
Subs: Eoin O’Connell, Donnacha Drumm, Patrick Kelly