by Michael Ellard
Irish Examiner, October 13, 2003

Newtownshandrum can now proudly and justifiably take their place among the greats, claimed jubilant manager Ger Cunningham, after a superlative display from his finely-tuned charges.

A massive achievement, as Cunningham quite rightly said, for a small rural village of some 800 people on the fringes of North Cork, within spitting distance of Limerick.

“I don’t think we got the credit we deserved when we won the county for the first time in 2000. A lot of people though it was just a one-off and then we lost to Blackrock in last year’s final many felt they had seen the last of this particular Newtown team.

“But we believed otherwise and this outstanding performance and convincing victory must surely entitle these lads to the recognition they have now earned through sheer hard work on the training ground and brilliance on the field of play,” said Cunningham.

The Newtown manager, in his first year at the helm, revealed that he knew in his heart and soul that there was always a display like this in his players – one that brushed defending champions Blackrock aside and left the attendance of 13,746 singing its praises.

“Last year we gave two top-class performances in the early rounds of the championship against Midleton and Avondhu but did not play to our potential in the final. This time we planned to peak for the final and thankfully that is the way things panned out for us,” said Cunningham.

Cunningham also revealed that Newtown’s game-plan for the final worked to perfection. He said: “we went out to set the pace and got the perfect start when Jerry O’Connor scored a sweet point in the first attack. Our plan of campaign was to let Blackrock catch us, not the other way round, and that’s how things turned out tour advantage,” he said.

And Cunningham was a happy man when his side led by a point at half time after playing against the wind. “It was the best possible position but we took a conscious decision not to make the same mistake we did in last Sunday’s semi-final against Sars when we aimlessly pumped the ball 80 or 90 metres down the field with the wind to our backs.

“On this occasion we decided to vary our puck outs and to play both a long and short game when the need arose. I think that was an essential key to our success.”

Cunningham, who always had a “gut feeling” his side would come out on top did admit he was a bit apprehensive and more than a trifle worried when Adrian Coughlan slammed home a goal from the penalty spot to bring Blackrock back within striking distance with nine minutes remaining.

Understandably, he was lavish in his praise of Ben O’Connor: “Ben is the best hurling forward in the country. His first touch is incredible. He has marvellous skill and vision and I have yet to train a better forward than him.”

But according to the Newtown manager it was far from a one-man show: “We lost Donal Mulcahy early on with a leg injury but we refused to allow it to break our rhythm. Our backs were outstanding. We were very dubious about playing Alan T O’Brien because he picked up a stomach bug during the night, but he came good for us at midfield in the last ten minutes. It was a marvellous team performance. One to be treasured for ever.”

Blackrock manager Tim Murphy said: “we had our day last year. This was Newtownshandrum’s day and I want to heartily congratulate them. They were the better and hungrier team and thoroughly deserved to win. They played superb hurling and their attitude and approach to this game was admirable in the extreme and try as we might we just could not cope with them on the day.

“We were delighted to make it to our third successive final but three-in-a-row was not to be for us. Newtownshandrum played out of their skins and deserve to be champions.”