The Newmarket footballers are back in the Bon Secours Premier Intermediate final, after a strong performance against the fancied Cill Na Marta side. Heading into the contest in Glantane last Saturday, the Muskerry outfit had yet to lose a match and had defeated all put in front of them by comfortable margins.

It was Cill Na Martra who opened the scoring on two minutes, with the sides level five minutes later, through a Ryan O’Keeffe free. Cill Na Martra restored the lead moments later, as both sides tried to settle into the game. The thirteenth minute proved to be the most vital of the contest, with Newmarket registering two quick fire goals. Both scores were instigated by the vision of full-forward Kevin O’Sullivan, who initially released Ryan O’Keeffe to rattle the opposition net. Moments later, the aforementioned O’Sullivan set up Barry O’Connor, who finished the opportunity with ease. Stunned, Cill Na Marta, reduced the arrears by a point, to trail 2-01 to 0-03 at the first water break.

Both sides traded points on 16 and 17 minutes, with corner-back, Paudie Allen on target for Newmarket. His side continued the scoring, with a point from Michael Cottrell, followed by a brace from Conor O’Keeffe, to lead 2-05 to 0-04 on 28 minutes. With the half almost up, Cill Na Martra pulled a point back, but it was quickly cancelled out by another O’Keeffe score, leaving the Glantane scoreboard reading 2-06 to 0-05, at the short whistle.

The second half proved to be a much tenser affair, with scores harder to come by. It wasn’t until the 39th minute that either side raised a flag, with Cill Na Martra scoring the only point of the quarter. Coming out of the final water break, TJ Brosnan extended Newmarket’s lead to 7 points, with final score of the contest coming from Cill Na Martra on 53 minutes. The closing moments of the contest proved to be a period of ill discipline for the Muskerry side, with a combination of black, yellow and red cards resulting in the defeated team ending the match with 11 players on the field. While unsavoury, it did not impact the outcome of the game, with Newmarket producing a controlled performance, to win out 2-07 to 0-07.

The victory means that Newmarket town will turn Red and Black as it prepares to emulate the achievements of ten years ago, when the side last won the Billy Long Cup. In the final Newmarket will meet neighbours Kanturk, who battled back to defeat Aghada on Saturday. The build up beings now. Áth Trasna Abú!

The Newmarket team and scorers…

Ryan O’Keeffe (1-1, 1f), Conor O’Keeffe (0-03, 1f), Barry O’Connor (1-0), Paudie Allen (0-01), TJ Brosnan (0-01), Michael Cottrell (0-01).

Josh O'Keeffe
Mikey Browne		Alan Ryan		Paudie Allen
T. J. Brosnan		Gavin Forde		Bart Daly
	Mikey Cottrell		Tim Murphy
John Ryan		Kevin O'Sullivan		Barry O'Connor
Conor O'Keeffe		Ryan O'Keeffe		Cathal Browne
Subs: Darren O'Keeffe for B O'Connor (HT)