Newtown humbled by Bishopstown in crunch contest
Not even the boost of a splendid goal against the run of the play by Cathal Naughton – which made it 1-6 to 0-7 in the 21st minute – could inspire Newtown to raise their performance, although a converted free by Mattie Ryan and a sublime point by Jamie Coughlan pushed them ahead again as the first half drew to close.
After shooting the last three points before the break, however, Bishopstown kept the momentum going on the turnover, with ‘keeper Ken O’Halloran playing his part when saving well from Newtown substitute Sean Griffin in the 39th minute.
A point from Cathal Naughton broke Newtown’s second half duck five minutes later, leaving them 0-15 to 1-9 in arrears, and, aided by scores from Michael Bowles and Mattie Ryan, they were still in with a shout, trailing by 0-17 to 1-11 approaching the last ten minutes.
It was notable at the same time that they constantly struggled to make headway up front against a Bishopstown defence in which Shane O’Neill and Mark O’Driscoll were especially commanding in the central berths, while Brian Murray was always to the fore at midfield for the winners.
Indeed, it would be fair to say that none of the Newtown players made a sustained impact from midfield onwards, and it was primarily due to the steadiness of Jerry O’Mahony, Ryan Fallon and Darrgh Guiney in the full-back line that they remained in the hunt for so long.
The bottom line is that Bishopstown, for whom Thomas Murray earned the main plaudits in attack, were much better-balanced, and, despite accumulating 17 wides, 11 more than Newtown, over the hour, they eventually powered home, knocking over eight unanswered scores on the run-in.