CRUSHEEN edged this one with a strong start and a stout finish. Newmarket will have to count the positives instead of the points with just the puck of a ball between them.
Crusheen 1-21
Newmarket on Fergus 2-17
Venue: Ruan
By Ross O’Donoghue
Crusheen’s run to last year’s championship decider was built on creating a lead worth defending. That included their win over Newmarket at the quarter-final stage and it was the same again in sunny Ruan.
The blood and bandages rattled off eight points from six different players in the first six minutes. Not a wide between them. It was a rip roaring start with Conor O’Donnell and Breffni Horner to the fore.
Not that Newmarket were short of belief. Mikey McInerney won the first puckout of the day and let fly. His effort pinged off the post but Sean Arthur reacted fasted and Newmarket had a goal inside the first minute. Paudie Guilfoyle was also doing well to vary the puckout into a swirling breeze. Arthur pointed after eight minutes but the Blues were still double scores in arrears.
Peter Power was on plenty of ball but hadn’t fully adjusted to the conditions and Newmarket looked in real trouble when Crusheen’s 15th minute goal. Breffni Horner was double marked but fed the ball to Oisín O’Donnell and Fergus Kennedy ghosted in to turn the ball home.
Newmarket were 10 points down from another Ross Hayes free after 23 minutes. Their opponents were giving the extra pass at the right time and their defence had Newmarket’s shooters under pressure.
At the same time Crusheen finished the half with three wides on the bounce and Newmarket teed themselves up for a real battle in the second half. Colin and Eoin Guilfoyle were strong under the high ball at either ends of the pitch and Eoin pulled off a catch-turn-bullet combination of skills for Newmarket’s second goal.
Crusheen hit another hat-trick of wides after the restart but Newmarket also lacked the accuracy to punish them. Still they were linking up better in attack and Peter Power took the right option to tee up Shane Lynch for a point after a mazy run.
The physicality was ratcheting up and the gap was back to three points after 43 minutes. The inevitable flare up between players suited Crusheen. Referee Niall Malone deescalated things and had yellow cards for but sides but Crusheen had a moment to reset and Newmarket lost the edge of their momentum.
Breffni Horner’s next score was a peach from the sideline and Ross Hayes extended the lead back to five points from a placed ball on 50 minutes.
Newmarket had no intention of throwing in the towel. Power and Mikey McInerney were leading the way and their supporters were at fever pitch with Éanna Crimmins bearing down on goal. His shot was well struck but at hip height and Donal Touhy had the reflexes to deflect it over the bar.
Crusheen’s lead was down to the minimum and hit two wides in additional time. But they kept their shape and backed themselves to hold out.
Still one last chance for Newmarket. They worked a quick free to their goalkeeper deep in his own half. Guilfoyle had the wind at his back but there was one last swirl to take it wide.
If Crusheen target a strong start in games, they haven’t always managed it in the round-robin so a win represents an excellent start to this one. For Newmarket, there’s still plenty of time to take the lessons from this one and chart a course back to the knockout stages.
Scorers Crusheen: R Hayes (0-05 5f), J Fitzgibbon (0-03), C O’Donnell (0-04), C Mullins (0-03), F Kennedy (1-01), B Horner (0-05).
Scorers Newmarket on Fergus: S Arthur (1-02), E Guilfoyle (1-01), J Enright (0-01), S Lynch (0-02), P Power (0-09 2f), M McInerney (0-01), E Crimmins (0-1)
Crusheen:
1: Donal Touhy
2: Eanna McMahon
5: Diarmuid Mullins
21: Gavin O’Brien
6. Ross Hayes
3: Cian Dillon
27: Evan Wherett
8: Eoghan McMahon
12: Cilléin Mullins
13: Oisin O’Donnell
11: Conor O’Donnell
9: Jamie Fitzgibbon
20: Ian O’Brien
15: Breffni Horner
14: Fergus Kennedy
Subs:
7: Tadhg Dean for G O’Brien (62)
Newmarket On Fergus:
1: Padraic Guilfoyle
9: Stephen Casey
3: Colin Guilfoyle
2: Seán O’Connor
5: Jack Enright
6: John Fehily
7: Niall O’Connor
8: Shane Lynch
10: Noel Frawley
21: Eoin Guilfoyle
17: Colin Ryan
14: Mikey McInerney
18: Seán Arthur
13: Peter Power
15: Éanna Crimmins
Subs:
22: Paudie McMahon for Frawley (36)
20: James Power for Ryan (55)
Referee: Niall Malone (Éire Óg)
