*Éanna Crimmins on the attack for Newmarket-on-Fergus.
NEWMARKET-ON-FERGUS recorded a two point win to claw their way back into contention in Group 4 of the Clare senior hurling championship.
Newmarket-on-Fergus 2-13
St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield 1-14
Venue: Dr Daly Park, Tulla
It wasn’t a classic by any means but Newmarket-on-Fergus certainly won’t be too perturbed about that after finally holding off the Parish to get their championship campaign up and running.
Indeed, the result was all that ultimately mattered in a must-win tie as having both lost their opening round encounters, a scrappy affair wasn’t beyond the bounds of possibility.
There were no guesses as to who was Newmarket’s hero as Éanna Crimmins struck late and decisively with a goal at the end of both halves to shade matters.
Having played with a gale, Newmarket appeared to be in trouble by the half hour mark when only finding themselves three points clear. However, Seán Arthur superbly intercepted a short Doora/Barefield puck-out and offloaded to Crimmins to bear down on goal and fire an unstoppable shot to the top left corner of Aaron Landy’s net at 1-10 to 0-07 by the break.
An almost identical scenario greeted the crescendo as with the Blues clinging to a three point cushion entering the final ten minutes, Éanna Crimmins popped up once more to alter the narrative of the tie with a less spectacular finish to the bottom right corner.
Being Newmarket’s only score in the last 25 minutes, it was clearly of paramount importance but on the flip side equally stressed how much scope the Parish had to make a full recovery.
They did fire the last four points through substitutes Senan Crosbie and Brian Guilfoyle along with a brace of Paudie O’Donovan free. However, they also hit four wides and had a Guilfoyle effort on goal saved by his first cousin Paudie.
There was even time for a straight red card for retaliation for Doora/Barefield’s Mark O’Connor but overall the loss of talismanic pair David Conroy and Cian Barron from the starting line-up through injury proved even more costly.
A patched up captain Barron did come off the bench for the last ten minutes but Newmarket dug deep to keep their opponents at bay having faltered badly at the other end themselves.
While there were some hairy moments, Newmarket crucially led from start to finish and were best served by top scorer Peter Power, goal scoring hero Crimmins, Seán Arthur and defensive anchors Colin Guilfoyle and Liam O’Connor.
However, the tie was defined by those conclusive Crimmins goals which perfectly tees up a final round derby showdown with Sixmilebridge while St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield despite suffering back-to-back losses have still everything to play for against Crusheen as the two quarter-final spots and the relegation place from Group 4 are very much up for grabs in a fortnight’s time.
Scorers for Newmarket-on-Fergus: Peter Power 0-8 (6f); Eanna Crimmins 2-0; Colin Guilfoyle 0-1 (f), Eoin Guilfoyle 0-1, Sean Arthur 0-1 (sl), Mikey McInerney 0-1, Paudie McMahon 0-1
Scorers for St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield: Paudie O’Donovan 0-7 (7f); Eoin Lahiffe 0-3,
Alan O’Neill 1-0, Tom Hannan 0-2, Senan Crosbie 0-1, Brian Guilfoyle 0-1
Newmarket-on-Fergus
1: Paudie Guilfoyle
2: Sean O’Connor
3: Colin Guilfoyle
4: Conor McCarthy
5: Jack Enright
21: Liam O’Connor
7: Niall O’Connor
8: Shane Lynch
9: Stephen Casey
18: Sean Arthur
22: Paudie McMahon
12: Eoin Guilfoyle
13: Peter Power
14: Mikey McInerney
15: Eanna Crimmins
Subs
17: Colin Ryan for McInerney (49, inj)
10: Noel Frawley for Lynch (54)
19: Mark Delaney for Arthur (63)
St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield
1: Aaron Landy
4: Adam Mungovan
3: Fionn Kelleher
15: Eoghan Thynne
5: Eoin McMahon
6: Darragh McMahon
7: Mark O’Connor
9: Darragh O’Shea
26: Ian Williams
8: Jack Hannan
10: Tom Hannan
12: Michael Nash
13: Eoin Lahiffe
20: Alan O’Neill
19: Paudie O’Donovan
Subs
18: Senan Crosbie for Williams (39)
14: Brian Guilfoyle for Nash (47)
29: Cian Barron for O’Neill (52)
Referee: Joe Mullins (Clonlara)
