Newtown bounce back with impressive win over Youghal

Newtownshandrum 1-18 Youghal 1-13

A ROUND one loss to Na Piarsaigh ultimately proved to be nothing more than a wakeup call for Newtownshandrum as they bounced back last Saturday night to regain a foothold in this season’s County SHC.

Kilworth was the destination for this round 2B clash with Youghal and while the weather was nice a mild there was a hefty wind that would play its part in the final outcome.

Newtownshandrum had to show all of their battling qualities to come back from a difficult position mid-way through the second period of this game to ultimately see off a Youghal side that were competitive for long periods but by the end had given all the could.

Manager Gary Morrissey was a relieved man come the final whistle.

“We are back in it now anyway. That is the most important thing. Of course we knew this was going to be difficult today but all games at this level are. We talked about the loss to Na Piarsaigh and we knew there was room for improvement after that but we knew whatever we did this was going to be do or die stuff.

“Of course we knew that Youghal were going to be tough and physical and to be fair to them they were. And they were good collectively and good off the ball and it took us a good while to get to grips with that but credit to our lads they pulled through in the end.

“I feel that in the second half there when things were tough some of our lads showed real leadership and that is what you need at this level. I though Tim O’Mahony at the back was immense as was Jamie [Coughlan] in the middle.

“Jamie only got a cast off last Thursday and had very little work done so you could see the commitment from the man there, Jamie is a great player and an example to all.”

Led by Ryan Clifford up front, O’Mahony at centre-back and the ever classy Coughlan in the corner, Newtown showed all of the attributes that we have come to expect from this assembly line of a club.

O’Mahony in particular shone as he bagged some wonderful long range scores when things were getting tight while all the time holding court in an overcrowded defensive third.

While most of the plaudits for this win will go to the scorers the defensive pairing of Daragh Guiney and Jerry O’Mahony were also magnificent as both players gave stellar, committed displays while under pressure all game.

For Youghal, Brett Moloney, Andrew Joyce and Ciaran O’Mahony all showed well however the sea-siders were always going to be up against it here when the news filtered through before the game that their star Bill Cooper would be unable to play due to a hamstring concern.

Their prospects took a second huge knock when centre forward Conor O’Sullivan was shown a straight red for an off the ball incident in the 26th minute.

Newtownshandrum were first on the scoreboard with a pointed free from Clifford however a couple of minutes later the game saw parity thanks to a long range effort from centre-back Damien Ring.

Youghal looked comfortable with the wind to their backs and took the game by the scruff with a brace of quick points from Moloney and Ciaran O’Mahony. Newtown fought back to lead again by the 20th minute however a hat-trick of long range efforts followed by a goal from Moloney saw Youghal head in at the turn up by 1-9 to 0-8.

Three quick points to one on the resumption in favour of the leaders put five between the sides but Newtown came flying back with 1-3 in less than three minutes. Three points followed by a terrific finish to the net from Donagh Stack gave the Avondhu side the lead on the three quarter mark and dominated the last 10 minutes to deservedly get back into the championship proper.

Youghal finished with just 13 men on the pitch as corner forward Alan Frahill-O’Connor saw red in added time in an incident that also resulted in the victor’s corner-back Jerry O’Mahony sent to the line.

For Newtownshandrum it will be onwards and upwards as they look to get back to the business end of this season’s title race.

NEWTOWNSHANDRUM: E Moloney; J O’Mahony, J Herlihy, D Guiney; C Twomey, T O’Mahony 0-2, D Lane; M Ryan 0-4 (1f, 1.65), M Thompson 0-1; S Young, D Hawe, D Stack 1-2; J Coughlan 0-3, J Bowles, R Clifford 0-5 (3f) Subs: E Coughlan for C Twomey (22), S Griffin for J Bowles (35), J Geary 0-1 for D Hawe (35), D Hawe for D Lane (47) JP Moloney for R Clifford (BS) (48) reversed (50)

YOUGHAL: R Cunningham; K Walsh, J Grace, M Farrell; N Roche, D Ring 2f, Barry Ring 0-1; A Kenny, A Joyce 0-2; J O’Mahony 0-1, C O’Sullivan, B Moloney 1-4 (3f); C O’Mahony 0-2, Brendan Ring 0-1, A Frahill-O’Connor Subs: S Smiddy for A Kenny (53), D O’Mahony for J O’Mahony (58)

REFEREE: M Maher (St Finbarr’s)