by Noel Horgan
The Corkman
Thursday, 12th September 2002

There aren't too many clubs comparable in size that can match the success enjoyed by Newtownshandrum.

Hurling is indeed akin to a religion in the little North-Cork hamlet close to the Limerick border, and to don the green and gold jersey is the ambition of every youngster reared in the closely knit community which has produced an abundance of tough and talented sticksmen since the club's foundation in 1896.

Newtown won the North-Cork junior title for the first time in 1936 and they made the breakthrough in the county championshp at this level ten years later.

Thus, the seeds were sown for a rich and proud tradition that has been handed down from generation to generation with families such as the Morrisseys, the Herlihys, the Troys, the Mulcahys, the Coughlans and the Noonans making an enormous contribution to the club's fortunes.

Remarkably, not a single decade has passed since without Newtown tasting some sort of county success.

Their initial intermediate triumph was achieved in 1953 with a team that included three players, Tom Galvin, Donal Leahy and Jack Lyons, involved with the Avondhu side, captained by Galvin, that had been crowned senior kingpins the previous year.

The junior title was captured again in 1968, and the 70s saw the club go all the way in the inaugural county under-21 hurling championship, '73, before lifting a second intermediate crown in '76.

A key member of the '76 intermediate side was John Buckley, who shares the distinction wtih Tipperary great Jimmy Doyle of winning three All-Ireland minor hurling medals.

In his last year with the Cork minors, John captained Cork to victory over Kilkenny in the 1971 final, and he added an All Ireland under-21 medal to his collection in '73.

Newtown were crowned intermediate champions again in 1981, and they earned a fourth title at this level in '96.

Coming in the club's centenary year, Newtown's 0-12 to 0-9 victory over Cloyne in the '96 final replay was especially satisfying, and it owed much to the dashing deeds of 17-year-old Ben O'Connor in attack.

He slotted over six points, five from play and his contribution was all the more laudable on a day, when the heavy ground condtions at Pairc Ui Chaoimh meant that scores were always going to be very hard to come by.

That team was captained by stalwart defender John McCarthy, who, along with goalkeeper Seanie Clifford and centre-back Pat Mulcahy, has shared in Avondhu's victory over Imokilly in a county senior hurling final replay a few weeks earlier.

Who would have thought at the time that Newtown, under the stewardship of Bernie O'Connor, would return to Pairc Ui Chaoimh just four short years later to scale the summit in the top flight by virtue of a final victory over Erins Own?

Eight of the '96 intermediate side - Seanie Clifford, John McCarthy, Pat Mulcahy, John Griffin, Mike Morrissey, Donal Mulcahy and the prodigious O'Connor twins, Ben and Jerry - were involved in Newtown's historic senior triumph in 2000, when the club also completed the three-in-a-row at under-21 level.

It was indeed a marvellous achievement, and its full significance can be gauged from the fact that only once previously had a club side from the Avondhu division, Ballyhea in 1896, claimed Cork's most cherished sporting prize.

For the record, Newtown, captained by Donal Mulcahy, whose brother Pat was chosen as man-of-the-match, lined out as follows in the 2000 decider:
Paul Morrissey, John Griffin, Brendan Mulcay, John McCarthy, Alan T. O'Brien, Pat Mulcahy, Philip Noonan, Ian Kelleher, Declan Murphy, Donal Mulcahy, Mike Morrissey, John Paul King, Bertie Troy, Ben O'Connor, Jerry O'Connor.
Dan Riordan was the only sub used in the final, and the rest of panel comprised of John O'Connor, Michael Reidy, Denis Coughlan, David Coughlan, Alan J O'Brien, Paddy Egan, Gerard O'Mahony, Robert Troy and Diarmuid Naughton.
The men behind the team were Bernie O'Connor, Simon Morrissey and Jim Coughlan.