Newmarket overcame a stiff challenge from Boherbue to progress in a Duhallow Cup tie played in consistent mist and difficult conditions at Newmarket on Tuesday evening. Newmarket had to recover from a poor first half performance to emerge with a 1-12 to 2-6 victory in a keenly contested game.

Newmarket raced out of the blocks from the throw in with Bart Daly fielding, before finding Nicky Flanagan and he in turn laid off to the on rushing Tony O’Keeffe who burst forward before driving the ball over the crossbar within the first thirty seconds.

A scrappy encounter developed however, as despite a superb playing surface the greasy conditions affected general play. Boherbue held sway in the possession stakes as they gathered the majority of ball around the middle of the field. The visitors eventually found parity midway through the half before quickly forging ahead with a second point.

Newmarket saw a number of scoring opportunities drop short but eventually ended a long barren scoring spell with John Ryan stepping forward to convert a twentieth minute free. Mark Reidy edged Newmarket in front by neatly clipping over a point from a difficult angle but a pointed Boherbue free left the sides level for a third time after twenty five minutes.

As the half entered the closing segment Boherbue ensured a slender half time advantage on converting a free which left the score at 0-4 to 0-3 at the interval.

There was vast room for improvement in the Newmarket ranks and they instantly improved upon the restart, with John Ryan kicking a fine equalizer within a minute of the restart. Newmarket upped the tempo and John Lane added a second point moments later with a quality finish. Boherbue responded and after tieing the scores for a fifth time they hit the front again with a point, seven minutes into the half.

Newmarket stepped up a gear and a resurgent John Lane was in top form on kicking another quality point before repeating the feat to regain the lead for the home side. Michael Kenneally who operated effectively on being positioned in the half back line, kicked a fine point as the standard of play improved measurably. Michael Cottrell showed deft skills on being surrounded by the endline but somehow engineered an opening to point from the narrowest of angles and a finely executed long range free from Bart Daly gave Newmarket a lead of 0-10 to 0-6 midway through the half.

As the game entered the final ten minutes Newmarket eventually established a bit of a cushion following a brilliant goal by Bart Daly. John Lane found the midfielder surging forward at blistering pace and as he evaded the challenges in front of him, he sent a blistering shot to the roof of the net to light up the dark surroundings. Boherbue found gaps in the Newmarket rearguard to reply with a goal but at the other end Newmarket reaffirmed their position thanks to two Bart Daly points. Boherbue rallied to the end and found the net for a second time with a well worked goal. This proved to be the final act and Newmarket progressed to the next round.

The Newmarket team and scorers…

Bart Daly (1-3), John Lane (0-3), John Ryan (0-2), Michael Kenneally (0-1), Mark Reidy (0-1), Tony O’Keeffe (0-1), Michael Cottrell (0-1),

David Quinlan
Jeremy Murphy		Brian O’Riordan		Barry O'Leary
Jacko Flaherty		T. J. Brosnan		John Ryan
	Bart Daly		Colin O'Sullivan
Michael Kenneally		Mark Reidy		Tony O'Keeffe
John Lane		Michael Cottrell		Nicky Flanagan
Subs: Shane Murphy, Brendan Stack, Eddie Allen