Newmarket ground down stubborn St. Johns
NEWMARKET withstood a barrage of late pressure to overcome St. John’s after a cracking Duhallow JBFC Group 1 Final played in Castlemagner last Sunday.
As it transpired, favourites Newmarket were given the most searching of questions yet they emerged the sharper and better balanced side. Two determined sides battled it out to the last whistle to provide supporters with a hugely entertaining contest.
St. John’s sought a first time title but came up short, unable to raise their consistency levels to the extent required. While John’s did their best to master Newmarket , at times, they lacked power and the accuracy to complete task on hand.
Holding plenty of experience, Newmarket ruled at the outset, their opening attacks gathered points from Michael Kenneally, John Lane and Shane Murphy. However St. Johns thundered into the picture, warming to their task and a productive flourish yielded a pair of goals in quick succession from Tom Sheehan and Eoin Barrett to snatch a brief lead.
Newmarket worked their way back into the contest, driven on by the intensity of Pa O’Brien, Eoin O’Connell, Michael Cottrell and Nicky Barrett. And a period of sustained pressure yielded points from Barrett and Eddie Allen to regain the uperhand 0-9 to 2-2 at the break.
St. Johns stood up to the challenge on the restart, brothers Sean and David Barrett joined by nephew Eoin and Denis O’Keeffe threw down the gauntlet. However a combination of hasty shooting and the woodwork denied Johns key scores as chances to win back the lead went abegging.
A steadier Newmarket proved more efficient in a low scoring second half with Shane Murphy on target to leave four between the sides. In fairness, St.Johns mounted a spirited revival, points to Eoin Barrett and John Cullinane halved the deficit.
During the closing stages, Newmarket lived dangerously where St. Johns gutsy revival brought them agonisingly close to pulling the game out of the fire. However Newmarket rode out the storm to add to their previous outright win in 2013.