by Noel Horgan
The Corkman
Thursday, 12th September 2002
At the Newtownshandrum 'Press' Night

They say the first one is always the sweetest.

But the message from the Newtown camp as the players wound down their preparations under the watchful eye of team trainer Ger Cunningham earlier this week was that victory over Blackrock in next Sunday's permanent tsb county senior hurling championship final would be richly savoured.

Perhaps, Newtown's approach to the game was best summed up by evergreen defender John McCarthy, the team's longest serving player, who will be seeking a third county medal, having won his first with Avondhu in 1996.

"This is the real big one for us, and anything we have achieved before will count for nothing if we are beaten on Sunday."

"When we won our first title two years ago, we beat an Erins Own team in the final that was fairly new to the scene as well, and, with the passing of Dan Mulcahy the previous week giving us huge motivation, it seemed as if destiny was very much on our side."

"This time, however, we are going in as raging underdogs, and, if only because it would solidify our status, it would probably mean more to us if we can pull it off."

"To beat a team of Blackrock's calibre would be an outstanding achievement in itself, but, even more importantly, I believe the winning of a second title could prove the catalyst for a really glorious era for Newtown."

"Most of the players on this team are under 23, and, realistically, the potential is there to go on to win two or three more county titles."

"But, on the other hand, it could set us back a lot if we lost to Blackrock, and we are fully aware that people will be saying our victory in 2000 was just a flash-in-the-pan should we fail to add to it."

McCarthy revealed that it took a while before things began to fall into place for Newtown this season, and that they shipped some very heavy defeats in the county league.

"But once we got our inter-county players back after Cork lost to Galway in the championship, and a couple of the lads who had emigrated returned home, the whole thing just took off."

"We were never really going well last year because it had taken a tremendous effort to win 2000 and the hunger was no longer there."

"We knew we weren't sharp after we beat Carrigdhoun in the quarter-final, but, despite the fact that we had six weeks to prepare for the Imokilly game, we just didn't have the will to put in the work required to get our act together."

"But the appetite has returned this year, and Tom Ryan and Ger Cunnigham have helped to bring a bit of freshness to the entire set-up."

McCarthy has no hesitation in saying that Blackrock are the best hurling team in the county, and that they have been so for the past few years.

"But it doesn't always follow that the best team will win the championship because if it did, Blackrock would now be going for four or five-in-a-row. Our only concern at this stage is to make sure that we produce our best display of the year in the final, and if it proves to be good enough on the day, we will gladly take the cup."

"If it doesn't, we won't like it, but we will just have to accept it, and we will at least be able to take some comfort from the fact that we have given it our best shot," said the 30-year old stalwart.

Pat Mulcahy - who, like John McCarthy, played on the Avondhu team in 1996 - was voted man-of-the-match in the county final two years ago, and he has again been a colossus at centre-back during Newtown's march to this decider.

He believes that the desire to put things right following the heavy defeat suffered at the hands of Imokilly in 2001 semi-final was always likely to bring out the best in Newtown this year.

"It might have been a different story had we lost by just a few points to Imokilly, but we were beaten all over the field in that match, and it was a big blow to our pride."

"We were determined to redeem ourselves this year, and we have managed to do that to a certain extent so far, but next Sunday will be the acid test and hopefully we can complete the job."

"Blackrock are a fantastic side, there's no other way of putting it, and it isn't difficult to understand why they were made such strong favourites to lift the crown even before a ball was pucked in this year's championship."

"They have been in practically every final over the past five or six years, they represented Cork very well last season in the Munster club championship, and they appear to be motoring as strongly as ever at the moment."

"Having said that, it will all boil down to 60 minutes of hurling on Sunday, and there is no way that we will be intimidated by the task ahead," said the key Newtown defender.

Apart from the last 20 minutes of the match against Imokilly, Mike Morrissey, one of the heroes of the 2000 success, was sidelined with an injury for last year's championship.

His return to action has obviously been a major plus for Newtown, and he will have the honour of captaining the team in Sunday's showdown with the Rockies.

"I am in no doubt that we didn't do ourselves justice in last year's semi-final, and we never threatened to get back into it after Imokilly grabbed a couple of early goals. It was our biggest defeat since we moved to senior, and a bit of a shock to the system following our achievement the previous year."

"I would like to think that we have learned from the experience, we have an ideal opportunity to restore our reputation next Sunday. I can assure you that we will be doing everything we can not to let it slip on Sunday," said the powerful Newtownshandrum centre-forward.