by John O'Mullane
17th September 2002

While there is no doubting the better team took home the Sean Og Murphy Cup from Pairc Ui Chaoimh on Sunday, Newtown lack of a visible game plan must also be questioned.

Time after time, puck out’s coming from Paul Morrissey were landing in our half forward line, where we didn’t have a physical enough presence or a good catcher of the ball and Blackrock were getting to all the subsequent breaks first.

Surely there must be a better way of winning possession from your own puck out’s if you know your half-forward line are not going to be able to win clean possession?

Anyway, it’s over now so there is no point in looking at all the negatives, the lads gave it there all, it just wasn’t good enough on the day.

They have given us more good days than bad over the last few years and looking at the match program on Sunday, it’s hard to believe that only 10 years ago we were playing Junior hurling.

Getting back to the game itself, Blackrock seemed to have their homework done on Newtown’s danger men and put the shackles big time on the players we really need big games from if we were to have any hope of causing an upset.

Pat Mulcahy did not dominate as much as usual, although he did pick up a nasty looking injury when he collided with Alan O’Brien mid way through the first half. This seemed to unsettle both players who starred in the semi-final v’s Avondhu.

Ben O’Connor was never going to get the same freedom as he has done all year, but to be fair to Ben, he was totally starved of good ball while inside in the full forward line and when he came out field in a switch with Gerry in an attempt to win more ball he has 2/3 players around him crowding him out each time.

All this said the players tried to the last and can not be faulted one bit for this defeat.

The full back line, which everyone thought would be our weakest link played superbly, as they have done all year. I’m sure if John Mac gives it one more year he will get his reward.

The half back line had been playing great stuff all year and while they didn’t do anything wrong on Sunday, the tactics of the Blackrock team meant we didn’t dominate this sector as we than anything individual they did wrong.

Midfield had been a trouble area all year. We thought after the semi-final that this was getting better, but on Sunday we were in trouble here again. Declan Murphy played well for long periods of the game but things didn’t just happen for Ian kelleher , but hopefully he will put his retirement plans aside for another year and give it another rattle next year. He is still on 27 and has plenty good years left in him.

The half-forward line has been going well all year, but on Sunday things just didn’t work out for them. We couldn’t win clean possession and with the midfield under pressure we struggled for long periods to create any scoring chances. Donal Mul justified his selection with a hard working performance.

Finally the full forward line. Ben has been the main man all year and I’m sure that he will torment defences for years to come, Sunday just wasn’t his day, the lack of good ball coming his way certainly didn’t help. James Bowles is surely a star for the future. It was hard on him to be dropped for the game on Sunday,but a year older next year, surely a great full forward in the making. John O’Connor struggled Sunday but he’s only 19 and there are surely better days ahead for him.

They came up against a very strong Blackrock them that included 7 players that played for Cork in the championship this year. While Cork did not set the world alight this year, these players are still very good players.

So heads up and I’m sure in a few weeks time the lads will be “chomping at the bit” for it to start all over again. A well deserved holiday is being organised as I write this, a holiday well deserved by all the players.