Newtown seal win with a strong finish
at Newtown NEWTOWN DONARD-THE GLEN 2-11 1-08
Newtown continued to create their chances without taking all of them.
Fitzsimons shot over a beauty on his left foot for his second before Ross Davis converted a free and Barry Davis made the most of a misplaced Donard-The-Glen pass to make it four points to one at half time.
In contrast the visiting team were toothless in attack and when they did venture into the Newtown half their shooting was poor.
The second half was a different story.
Alan Daly, as he sometimes does, took the first half to gather his bearings and then unleash the full quota of his ability. He gave John O’Donoghue a terrible evening.
Seven minutes into the second half Donard-The-Glen were level. Daly got the first point, rounding O’Donoghue inside the 14 metre line before cutting back in and splitting the posts.
Barry Davis replied for Newtown but another three attacks yielded three points for Donard-The-Glen.
Ray Halloran got his name on the scoreboard and then Daly was fouled, the only recourse of action for the Newtown defence to stop him.
Harry Mangan converted the free. Daly levelled the match moments later, the score of the match off the outside of his left boot from an acute angle.
Donard-The-Glen had a couple of more chances to take the lead for the first time but the impressive Eoin Kelly and Brian Lennon were off target.
That spurred Newtown into action.
Cathal McNicholas scored the second best point of the game, he gathered possession with his back to goal and shot while turning.
Mark Fitzsimons got his fist on the kickout to break possession for his team and Ross Davis profited, pushing Newtown into a two point lead.
Then came the goals. A Karl Carthy shot for a point landed short and Conor Odlum collected the breaking ball to score from a few yards out.
The second was a fluke. A McNicholas shot looped over Mark Moore into the Donard-The-Glen goal from about 25 yards out.
Donard-The-Glen didn’t let their heads drop however and reduced the deficit from eight points to two within the next ten minutes.
Midfielders Harry Mangan and Brian Lennon kicked a free each before a slice of luck fell on Donard-The-Glen.
Kenneth Turner lost sight of Alan Daly’s 45 and let it drop in below the bar for a goal.
Daly followed it with a point but that was their last score of the game while Newtown reeled off four points in the final five minutes to capture the league points.
Scorers – Newtown: Cathal McNicholas 1-03; Ross Davis (1f, 1 45) 0-04; Conor Odlum 1-00; Mark Fitzsimons, Barry Davis 0-02 each.
Donard-The-Glen: Alan Daly (1-00 45) 1-03; Brian Lennon (2f), Harry Mangan (2f) 0-02 each; Ray Halloran 0-01.
Kenneth Turner; Lee Turner, John O’Donoghue; Robert Greenan, Neil Martin, Karl Carthy; Shane Mooney, Mark Fitzsimons; Barry Davis, Ross Davis, Adam Heffernan; Sean Gregory, Cathal McNicholas, Conor Odlum. Subs: Darragh Callan for Robert Greenan (18 mins); Sean Odlum for Adam Heffernan (37 mins); Dean Odlum for Conor Odlum, Keith Dalton for Barry Davis (both 50 mins); James Sinnott for Sean Gregory (60 mins).
NEWTOWN:
Mark Moore; Kevin Osborne, Colm Toomey, Mickey Daly; Eoin Kelly, Ger Healy, Brendan Daly; Brian Lennon, Harry Mangan; Conor Kelly, Ray Halloran, Darren O’Neill; Alan Daly, Colm O’Neill.
DONARD-THE-GLEN: REFEREE:
Eugene O’Brien