Stroll in the sun for Newtown

WHAT was expected to be a tough test amounted to little more than a stroll in the sun for Newtownshandrum on Saturday at Fermoy.

Highly rated Imokilly scarcely raised a gallop in this permanent tsb county senior hurling championship encounter, and Newtown effectively wrapped things up in the first half, at the end of which they led by 1-12 to 0-2.

The result gave Newtown sweet revenge for their defeat by Imokilly in the 2001 semi-final, and it allowed the 2000 kingpins to advance to the last four for the fourth consecutive year. It was also Newtown’s second decisive win on the trot, having demolished Ballyhea in the previous round, but team coach Ger Cunningham was reluctant to make any bold predictions in the wake of it, stressing that there was still a lot of work to be done before any thoughts of repeating the achievement of three years ago can be seriously entertained.

“We were expecting a stiffer challenge from Imokilly, but they didn’t get going at all in the first half. “We built up a big lead, and I suppose it was always going to be hard for the lads to keep up the pace in the second half, because it was very hot out there today. “At the same time, we have a tendency to take the foot off the pedal when we get on top, and that’s something we can’t afford to do when we will be facing tougher opposition in the latter stages of the championship.

“The fact that so many of their players were involved with the Cork intermediate team during the week probably hindered Imokilly’s preparations for this game, and, while I’m obviously pleased with the win, I don’t believe that our performance was anything to write home about,” said the Newton boss.

Although Imokilly drew first blood through a point from corner-forward Liam Aherne in the third minute, they didn’t score again before the break until the same player found the target from a free two minutes into stoppage time.

And Newtownshandrum completely ran the show in the interim, with Pat Mulcahy, John McCarthy and Philip Noonan catching the eye most often in a dominant defence, Jerry O’Connor and Alan T O’Brien dictating matters at midfield, and Ben O’Connor, Donal Mulcahy and James Bowles posing regular problems for an overworked Imokilly rearguard.

Full-forward Bowles goaled for Newtown, following good work by Jerry O’Connor in the fourth minute, and they steadily piled on the punishment after that, with five of their forwards, as well as midfielder O’Brien, contributing to their first half tally.

Mike Morrissey was the only Newtown attacker that failed to raise a flag before the break, and he made little impact in general play either against Imokilly pivot Mick Daly.

Apart from Daly, however, previous few of the Imokilly players will look back on this drab encounter with any sense of satisfaction, although such as Brian O’Driscoll and Derek Barrett were other defenders to emerge reasonably unscathed from the fray.

But Imokilly had little or nothing to offer either at midfield or in attack, and regular shuffling of their forces did little to improve the situation in those sectors during the course of the hour.

A booted goal from wing-forward Brendan Coleman reduced the gap to eight points within six minutes of the resumption, but even that boost failed to prompt a meaningful challenge from the losers.

In any event, Newtown replied with points from Jerry O’Connor and James Bowles to lead by 1-14 to 1-3 midway through the second half, and the reality is they were content to do little more than was required to maintain control in the last quarter.

They added just one more point before the finish which came in the 58th minute from Jerry O’Connor, who had threatened a goal a few minutes earlier when Imokilly ‘keeper, Denis Fitzgerald, did well to deflect his shot outside the posts.

O’Connor and Donal Mulcahy were constantly in the picture around the middle in the second half when Newtown continued to rule with a firm hand in defence where Pat Mulcahy, John McCarthy and Philip Noonan earned the main plaudits and Brendan Mulcahy, Ger O’Mahony and Ian Kelleher rarely put a foot astray either in front of dependable netminder, Paul Morrissey.

Imokilly had been reduced to 14 players when midfielder Jason Barrett received his marching orders following a second bookable offence inside the last ten minutes, and full-forward Sean O’Farrell was issued with a straight red card before the finish to complete a miserable afternoon for the East Cork divisional side.

Scorers — Newtownshandrum: J Bowles 1-3, B O’Connor 0-4 (0-1 free), Jerry O’Connor, John O’Connor and AT O’Brien 0-2 each, D Naughton and D Mulcahy 0-1 each.

Imokilly: B Coleman 1-0, L Aherne 0-2 (0-1 free), J Barrett, V Morrissey, free, and D Barrett 0-1 each.

Teams — Newtownshandrum: P Morrissey; J McCarthy, B Mulcahy, G O’Mahony; I Kelleher, P Mulcahy, P Noonan; Jerry O’Connor, AT O’Brien; D Mulcahy, M Morrissey, D Naughton; John O’Connor, J Bowles, B O’Connor.

Subs: JP King for Naughton, M Farrell for B Mulcahy (blood sub), B Mulcahy for Farrell, Farrell for M Morrissey.

Imokilly: D Fitzgerald (Bride Rovers); N Furlong (Carrigtwohill), V Murray (Youghal), B O’Driscoll (Fr O’Neill’s); D Barrett (Cobh), M Daly (do.), G Melvin (Aghada); C Burns (Carrignavar), J Barrett (Carrigtwohill); B Coleman (Youghal), R Dwane (Aghada), J Holland (Fr O’Neill’s); N McCarthy (Carrigtwohill), S O’Farrell (do.), L Aherne (Dungourney).

Subs: P O’Neill (Aghada) for Burns (blood sub), Burns for O’Neill, E Conway (Fr. O’Neill’s) for Burns, V Morrissey (Aghada) for Dwane, D Ring (Youghal) for Holland, P O’Neill for Aherne, B Clifford (Lisgoold) for Melvin.

Referee: K Healy (Ballymartle).