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*Evan Crimmins of Newmarket-on-Fergus. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
CLARE SHC roll of honour leaders Newmarket-on-Fergus had a sense of “relief” after surviving another relegation battle.
For the second year in a row, Newmarket-on-Fergus’ season ended with a relegation semi-final win, overcoming St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield in Dr Daly Park, Tulla for a successive campaign.
It is the third time in eleven years that the Blues have had to battle relegation. Unlike their 2016 survival where they propelled to a semi-final the following season, 2025 and 2026 marked consecutive appearances in the relegation semi-finals for the twenty three time champions.
Gort native Michael Cummins was in his maiden season in charge of Newmarket-on-Fergus as they overcame Doora/Barefield 3-19 1-17 to consolidate their senior status for 2027. “Relief is the feeling right now. When you are in this you just want to get over the line by whatever means, you just want to get it done,” he outlined. He added, “I am happy for the lads, they have a massive effort put in all year”
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Cummins felt they were “unfortunate” to miss out on a quarter-final place when scoring difference caught them following first round defeats to Kilmaley and Sixmilebridge. “We were playing very well all year and were just unfortunate not to get through. We were awful disappointed at that. We took a week off after the Wolfe Tones match and then regrouped. We had two great weeks leading up to this and I knew they were in good shape. We were the better team today”.
Colin Guilfoyle’s move to full-forward resulted in Newmarket-on-Fergus getting their first green flag of the game. Cummins said of the former Clare senior panellist, “Colin is a massive player for us, he has loads of hurling, I think there is more in him, he is a massive asset. We have tall men and we have quick forwards inside, we can change it up. We wanted to be in the park today but that is the way it goes”.
He was hopeful for Newmarket-on-Fergus’ future, “there is plenty of hurling in the squad. We had five under 20’s there in the second half, four of whom started. They are all good hurlers. We are delighted with this result”.
Mikey McInerney’s loss with a hand injury was lamented by the Blues boss. “Mikey suffered an injury in the first round and he has been a huge loss. He is a battering ram, he breaks the ball and runs with the ball. He is a huge man to try and stop. He will be back next year”.
