Footballers confirm promotion with victory over Naomh Abán
Requiring a win from one of their last two regular season league matches to guarantee promotion, Newmarket’s goal finishing prowess proved too much for the travelling Naomh Abán, on Tuesday night of last week.
The visitors opened the scoring on three minutes, doubling their advantage a few moments later. A Conor O’Keeffe free registered Newmarket’s first point of the contest with a Hugh O’Connor goal on the ten minute mark pushing his side into the lead, a position they would not relinquish for the rest of the fixture. Naomh Abán responded with a point of their own, but a hectic few minutes saw Newmarket bag a second goal through Kevin O’Sullivan, to hold a 2-01 to 0-03 lead after twelve minutes. The Muskerry side narrowed the gap to two, after scores on the 16th and 22nd minute. Newmarket replied through Hugh O’Connor with the visitors finding the following point. A dominant closing stage from the hosts saw the aforementioned O’Connor net 1-03 in a matter of minutes, giving his side a controlling 3-05 to 0-06 advantage at the break.
Naomh Abán scored quickly after the restart, with a Conor O’Keeffe effort nullifying the effort minutes later. The visitors reduced the arrears to six on 45 minutes through a brace of scores. A Hugh O’Connor free entering the last ten minutes ensured his side held a sizeable lead as the clock was running out. Naomh Abán continued to chase, scoring the next two points. The result was confirmed on 55 minutes when Conor O’Keeffe scored Newmarket’s fourth goal of the evening. Despite two late points from the visitors, the home side ran out 4-07 to 0-13 on the night ,confirming promotion to Division 3 for the 2024 campaign, with a league final against Kilshannig yet to come.
The Newmarket team and scorers…
Hugh O’Connor (2-05, 2f), Conor O’Keeffe (1-02, 1f), Kevin O’Sullivan (1-00).
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| Josh O'Keeffe | ||||
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| Daniel Norton | Alan Ryan | Mikey Browne | ||
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| Aidan Browne | T. J. Brosnan | Paudie Allen | ||
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| Mikey Cottrell | Cathal Browne | |||
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| Paddy Browne | Kevin O'Sullivan | Barry O'Connor | ||
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| Conor O'Keeffe | Hugh O'Connor | John Ryan | ||
| Subs: David Cottrell for Barry O'Connor, Gavin Forde for Cathal Browne (blood sub), Gavin Forde for John Ryan, Kevin Daly for Kevin Sullivan, Colin O'Sullivan for Conor O'Keeffe, Paudie O'Sullivan for Paddy Browne | ||||
