Newmarket travelled to Mallow on Sunday last to take on near neighbours Kiskeam in their first outing of the year in the first round of the Tom Creedon Cup where they were defeated on a scoreline of 0-12 to 0-9.

Newmarket, playing with the aid of a strong wind, started off the game brightly and raced into a 3 points to no score lead with ten minutes gone after points from Barry O’ Connor, TJ Bodie and corner back John Ryan. Playing a short game and relying on support runners was key to Newmarkets early dominance and this was no more so evident when John Lane, Mark Reidy and Ryan played a series of neat one-twos to set-up Michael Cottrell for a goaling chance which was heroically blocked by the Kiskeam defence , luckily for Newmarket Tony O’ Keeffe was on hand to send a snap shot over the bar to increase the lead. Once again Newmarket’s running game proved effective as the defence worked the ball out quickly to Bodie who in turn picked out O’Connor with a neat pass only for the number 15 to be fouled, Bodie splitting the posts from the resulting free. thereafter Kiskeam took control and registered their first score after 18 minutes and this acted as a catalyst for an onslaught on the Newmarket goal. Newmarket struggled to hold possession and with 2 more Kiskeam points in as many minutes the game was beginning to turn in their favour. Newmarket were wasteful in front of goal on a couple of occasions and this proved costly as 2 more Kiskeam points saw the score all square at 0-5 each at half time.

Kiskeam resumed the second half in similar fashion to the way the finished the first, they raced into an 0-8 0-5 lead within 11 minutes of the restart. The game entered into a scrappy phase with both teams struggling to put together a meaningful attack until Ryan raced up the pitch to score Newmarket’s first point of the second half. Newmarket were then presented with a goal chance with TJ Bodie cutting in from the right side of the pitch, faced with an acute angle Bodie went for power and with the keeper beaten the ball unluckily cannoned off the bar and over. With the minimum left between the sides and 10 minutes to go it was all to play for, crucially Newmarket could never draw level at 2 converted frees for the Kiskeam men gave them a bit of breathing space. A Bodie free was quickly cancelled out and with the game entering the final stages Kiskeam kicked their 12 point of the game via a well taken free from distance. Newmarket pushed forward and Eddie Allen pointed to leave it a one score game at 0-12 0-9, this was to be the last score of the game however which sees Newmarket exit the competition and Kiskeam advance to the quarter finals. This will not be the last time these two teams meet this year as for the second year running the sides will meet in the first round of the Premier intermediate football championship with a date yet to be confirmed.

The Newmarket team and scorers…

Tj Bodie (c) (0-4), John Ryan (0-2), Tony O’ Keeffe (0-1), Barry O’ Connor (0-1), Eddie Allen (0-1)

Niall O’Connor
Paudie Allen		Mark Reidy		John Ryan
Donnacha Fitzpatrick		Tim Murphy		Gavin Forde
	Colin O'Sullivan		Michael Cottrell
Jacko Flaherty		Kevin O'Sullivan		John Lane
T.J. Bodie		Tony O'Keeffe		Barry O'Connor
Subs: Tj Brosnan, Eddie Allen, Shane Murphy, Nicky Flanagan, Stephen Stokes, Pa O' Brien