Evening Echo
by John Horgan
Monday 19th August 2002

Newtownshandrum 0-16
Erin's Own 0-10

Another lukewarm contest in the permanent tsb Cork Co SHC quarter-final in keeping with the lopsided affairs of the weekend.

Newtown manager Tom Ryan was satisfied enough with the return of the champions of 2000, but being the shrewd hurling man that he is, he must know that there's work to be done before the glory days can be re-visited again.

Newtown did enough. A solid, workman-like performance against an Erin's Own unit that never really sparkled despite recovering admirably from a very bad start which saw them trail by four points after just eight minutes.

Gerry O'Connor didn't start for Newtown due to a leg injury, but he entered the fray midway through the second-half and scored a fine point.

Brother Ben was, as always, tormentor-in-chief and a few of his points took the breath away.

Another of this great sporting family, John, James Bowles and JP King made their own contribution on the board with a brace of points apiece, but 12 wides over the hour is a disconcerting statistic.

No doubt, though, about the best player on the park. It was Pat Mulcahy in the number six jersey who was a lord and master all through and his hurling was a joy to behold for the huge Kilworth audience. Alongside him Phil Noonan grew in strength as the game aged.

Erin's Own's cause wasn't helped by the dismissal of last week's hero against Cloyne, Timmy Kelleher at a critical juncture in the proceedings when only two points separated the sides 45 minutes into the game.

Both goalkeepers, Paul Morrissey and Shay Bowen, pulled off a sublime save apiece and Tony O'Keeffe, Kieran Murphy and Denis Mulcahy always fought the good fight for Erin's Own.

Just a point in it at the break, 0-7 to 0-6 for Newtown but three quick points on the resumption by Bowles and Ben O'Connor put daylight between them again and it was a case of catch up hurling for Erin's Own until the last whistle sounded.

However, there's not enough evidence from Newtown as yet to suggest that they are the best bet to unseat the Rockies at the top.

Now it's Avondhu. Maybe that will give us the game that we crave in this very sub standard championship thus far.

Afterwards, Tom Ryan admitted to being pleased but also conceded that improvement will be necessary.

"I am pleased we are in a semi-final. It took us a long time to shake them off, but I was pleased at the way we finished.

"We had some fine individual displays. Pat Mulcahy was outstanding, behind him Brendan did very well, Ben got some great points and Gerry got in on the act when he came on.

"John Paul King took two fine points as did James Bowles and whilst I know we need to improve I feel we are getting stronger with every game."

Scorers:
Newtownshandrum:
B O'Connor 0-7, J O'Connor, J Bowles, JP King and J O'Connor 0-2 each, P Mulcahy, P Noonan and G O'Connor 0-1 each.
Erins Own:
M O'Connor 0-3, K Murphy, S Bowen, D Mulcahy, S Dunne, I Quinlan, P Kelly and T O'Leary 0-1 each.

Newtownshandrum:
P Morrissey, J O'Mahony, B Mulcahy, J McCarthy, I Kelleher, P Mulcahy, P Noonan, A T O'Brien, D Murphy, JP King, M Morrissey, D Naughton, J Bowles, J O'Connor, B O'Connor.
Subs: G O'Connor for Naughton, D Mulcahy for Kelleher.

Erins Own:
S Bowne, T Kelleher, M Dunne, D Mulcahy, A O'Keeffe, C O'Connor, S Murphy, I Quinlan, K Murphy, K Murphy, P Kelly, M O'Connor, T O'Leary, S Dunne, F Murphy.
Subs: B Murphy for K Murphy.

Referee: R Murphy Lyre