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 The Tribune 23rd February 2004 | |||
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their teeth better and pushed their necks out right the way to the finishing
line. A repeat of the classic of seven days ago this All Ireland club SHC
semifinal replay was not, yet it wasn't short on virtues either. Virtues
like honest endeavor, boundless determination, tight-jawed defending and
ample spectator satisfaction. But more spectator satisfaction if you were
from north Cork, naturally.
The reasons why Newtownshandrum won? Two main ones. Ben O'Connor, whose
influence, while not as pronounced as it had been last Sunday, still
rendered him the man of the moment and the player of the two matches, and
their defence, which despite facing a stiff breeze confined O'Loughlins to
four points in the second half. We knew Newtown could win games on their
terms. Here they proved they can win them on other people's terms too.
True, they were - as ever - at their most fluent when the play flowed. It
did exactly that in the opening quarter. Half a yard quicker, half a yard
sharper and backed by the wind, Newtown had three points on the board within
five minutes, the pick of them a peach by O'Connor from a tight angle on the
right, Andy Comerford having been left for dead moments earlier. O'Connor
had begun by landing a free from midfield on the left and John Paul King
rounded off the burst with a point from the right in the fourth minute.
Already O'Loughlins were in need of a dig out. Conveniently, they received
one in the form of a Maurice Nolan goal after five minutes. Alan O'Brien
popped in a ball from the right, Colin Furlong won it and held it up, and
though he couldn't break through two defenders, the sliotar eventually
squirted clear for Nolan to slide it home from the fringes of the square,
left-handed past Paul Morrissey. Required to start from scratch again,
Newtown duly responded via a brace of O'Connor frees, the same player also
finding the range from play after his sibling Jerry burst through and laid
off the ball to create a typical O'Connor point. By the 11th minute, Newtown
were 0-6 to 1-0 in front and full value for their lead.
As in the drawn game, however, they were unable to sustain the pace. A
slight drop in tempo allowed O'Loughlins a foothold; too often Newtown were
too fussy, opting for precision with their puckouts instead of going for
length; and Comerford, though unable to keep pace with O'Connor at close
quarters, did settle sufficiently to make a couple of telling clearances.
The 20th minute arrived with the Leinster champions on level terms once more
following points from Furlong, Brian Dowling and the inevitable Nigel Skehan
free.
From there to the interval, O'Loughlins enjoyed slightly the better of
proceedings, even if King's second point allowed Newtown to retire 0-8 to
1-4 ahead. It didn't seem enough at the time. Half-time leads on windy days
often don't.
The story of the second half is quickly told. Score for score and pretty
much neck and neck for 20 minutes, but always a sense that Newtown had a
little in hand, if only because O'Loughlins never managed to get their noses
in front and contrive a lead they might have built on. Once Dan O'Riordan
pointed from close range in the 36th minute to push the winners two ahead,
Newtown had an advantage, however slender looking, to defend. It was as much
as their opponents could do to draw level, which they did three times in the
space of seven minutes around the three quarter mark courtesy of scores by
Nolan, Brian Dowling and Niall Bergin.
Once O'Connor put Newtown ahead yet again from a free in the 49th minute,
though, O'Loughlins emptied to nothing. The closing period belonged to the
winners, with King doubling their advantage (0-13 to 1-8) from the right
nine minutes from time. When Jerry O'Connor cut out a Comerford clear-
ance two minutes later and returned it all the way over the bar from
midfield, the psychological hammerblow was landed. That was the end of the
scoring - and the end of the losers' challenge.
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