*Shane Lynch gets a strike away as Cian Dillon closes in. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
NEWMARKET-ON-Fergus must learn from their disappointing first round showing in order to keep their championship hopes alive.
Quarter-finalists for the past three seasons, championship survival is on the line for Newmarket-on-Fergus when they travel to Tulla on Saturday evening to face St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield.
Within six minutes of their opening outing in this year’s championship, Newmarket-on-Fergus had conceded eight points to Crusheen from six different players and found themselves down by ten points with twenty three minutes played.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Blues boss James Carrig lamented their poor start. “Our shot selection has to be better and we have to start games better. We cannot stand off teams and let them dictate the pace of the game. That’s what Crusheen did today and that’s what we need to correct for the next day. We need to be the ones on the front foot from the word go”.
He continued, “We’ve worked hard all year. I’m blessed with a very good management team who are very focused and give everything to the cause. I’m blessed with a great bunch of players who turn up to training every night willing to learn. It just wasn’t our day today and that happens. This is sport. We’re disappointed but we’ll get ready for Doora/Barefield and that’s the way it goes. We’ve two big games left in the group – Doora/Barefield and the Bridge. We’ve probably made it a bit harder on ourselves but this group is going to be tough and we always knew it was going to go down to the wire”.
Carrig was pleased that his side were creating chances but felt their decision making could have been better. “We created a lot of chances and all through the league we’ve done the same thing. We believe in trying to play attacking hurling and we pride ourselves on that as a management team and as a group of players. We put 2-17 on the board. If you look through the Clare Cup we’ve been hitting the 20 point mark all the time. The goal in the first half was a big score for them. At one stage I think we were ten or eleven points down. We drew it back to five points at half time and there was the puck of a ball in it at the end”.
Winners of the Clare Cup this year, championship hurling is what it’s all about the former Wolfe Tones and Crusheen manager pointed out while noting his charges have the chance to show what they’re about in round two. “Fellas are privileged to come out and play hurling. It’s a privilege for a young fella to come through the ranks and play senior championship hurling for their club. These are the games you want to be playing in. We’re disappointed today. We lost by a point. But the next day, we’ve another chance to get it right”.
