Coolboy take top position Vital win over Newcastle
at Pearse’s Park, Arklow a lot of possession in the middle third, the Newcastle defence stood firm to their task.
A point from Stephen Carter gave Coolboy the lead before a spate of ill discipline cost them in gifting Newcastle frees.
Warren Merriman pointed the first of these which was brought up for dissent by referee Pat Hickey. Great work from full-back Ciaran Doyle to thwart a Coolboy attack resulted in another Newcastle free which again was brought up for dissent and scored by Merriman. They missed the chance to extend their lead with two missed frees from either side of the park in the run in to half time before disaster struck to undo their hard work. The ever lively PJ Mulhall was being kept under wraps by Newcastle but on an adventure into the Newcastle goal area, Mulhall was pulled down by Neil Yeoman and Pat Hickey had no hesitation in awarding the penalty. O’Keefe stepped up to slot a low effort to the keepers left and into the corner of the net to give Coolboy a 1-5 to 0-6 lead at half-time.
Coolboy maintained their pressure early on in the second half with a fine score from Jonathan Smyth who broke a kickout and picked up the return before firing over a sublime point.
O’Keefe pointed another free for Coolboy after Wayne Kinsella was fouled. Newcastle will be annoyed at this as they benefited from Coolboy’s dissent in the first half and they were guilty of the same offence here rendering a tough free kickable.
O’Gara pulled one back for Newcastle on 10 minutes just moments after missing a guilt edge chance but Coolboy were firmly in the driving seat around the middle third where Dan Nolan gathered a breaking ball in midfield and set off on a run resulting in him kicking a fine point for his team.
PJ Mulhall kicked a fine free for his team to push the lead to five points shortly before a great chance for Newcastle. Graham O’Brien appeared to manoeuvre himself into a goal scoring opportunity and in space but sheer commitment and determination from Aaron Kinsella who sprinted a good 25 yards to catch his opponent resulted in a wide for Newcastle.
Newcastle pleaded their case for a disputed wide on 22 minutes after immense pressure from Garrett Gregan saw a Newcastle effort just fail to curl over the upright which, from the view of the reporter, appeared to be the correct call.
Brendan Behan thwarted a dangerous Newcastle attack near the end line as Newcastle pushed for a goal but his pressure on O’Gara resulted in the Coolboy man deflecting the ball off Newcastle’s danger man and wide.
Pat Hickey played three extra minutes of injury time and, try as they might, Newcastle could not manufacture a goal chance for themselves and had to settle for another Merriman point as a consolation. Coolboy move on as group winners and will be happy with the overall display of the team here.
Coolboy: Joe Dempsey; Garrett Gregan, James Gregan, Aaron Kinsella; Jonathan Smyth (0-1), Johnny Willoughby, Brendan Behan; Dan Nolan (0-1), Wayne Kinsella; David Tighe, PJ O’Keefe, PJ Mulhall (0-1, f); Kevin O’Keefe (1-4, 1-0 pen, 3f), Michael Gregan (0-1), Stepen Carter (0-1); Subs: Paul O’Keefe for David Tighe, Liam Nolan for Stephen Carter, Enda Gethings for James Gregan.
Newcastle: Ian Lucey; Mark O’Connor, Ciaran Doyle, Shane Cloake (0-1, f); Colm Yeoman, Neil Yeoman, Philip O’Connor; Sean Ryder, Shane Doyle; Warren Merriman (0-5, 5f), Graham O’Brien, Kyle Sheridan; Shane Magee, Robert O’Gara (02), Christian Mulligan. Subs: Richard Merriman for Sean Ryder and Ryan Heffernan for Kyle Sheridan
Referee: Pat Hickey