Despite the benefit of two early first half goals, Newmarket went down to defeat by four points, 1-11 to 2-4 against Clyda Rovers in a Division 2 Football League encounter played at Mourne Abbey on Tuesday night.

Clyda Rovers were first off the mark on pointing in the third minute. Newmarket sprung into the contest in the tenth minute. Donal Hannon was alert on reacting fastest to a Clyda Rovers effort which came off the upright and set a flowing move in motion.

Moments later at the other end of the field he amazingly popped up in an advanced position to gather a fine pass from Barry O’Connor and showed great composure to slot the ball home to the back of the net. Barry O’Connor was a constant threat and showed great ability on pointing superbly in Newmarket’s next attack. Clyda Rovers pointed a free before Daniel Culloty kicked a wonderful point from distance for Newmarket. Barry O’Connor was again involved midway through the half as he played in Michael Cottrell. With plenty to do, Michael Cottrell advanced from a narrow angle, somehow managed to create space and slotted home a second Newmarket goal. Facing a six point deficit, Clyda Rovers kept their composure and gradually chipped away at the Newmarket lead. The home side added four unanswered points before the interval, to leave Newmarket with an advantage of 2-2 to 0-6.

Clyda Rovers maintained the momentum upon the restart as they pointed within a minute. The comeback was complete in the sixth minute of the half as the home side struck for a goal. Newmarket ended a long barren spell as the lively Tony O’Keeffe pointed to leave a point between the sides. This proved brief respite, as Clyda Rovers proceeded to slot over a series of points at regular intervals. Newmarket struggled to make inroads on the scoreboard and had to wait for a late Daniel Culloty free to add another point to the tally but it proved mere consolation.

The Newmarket team and scorers…

Donal Hannon (1-0), Michael Cottrell (1-0), Daniel Culloty (0-2), Barry O’Connor (0-1), Tony O’Keeffe (0-1)

David Quinlan
Michael O’Leary		Alan Ryan		Pa O’Brien
Gavin Forde		Paudie Allen		Donal Hannon
	Colin O'Sullivan		Bart Daly
John Lane		Tony O'Keeffe		Michael Cottrell
Nicky Flanagan		Daniel Culloty		Barry O'Connor
Subs: Eddie Allen, Daniel O’Doherty