Newtown maintain unbeaten run
NEWTOWN 1-11 AN TOCHAR 0-8 DIVISION 2
NEWTOWN kept their unbeaten start to the league and hopes of bouncing straight back up to Division 1A intact with a comfortable win over An Tochar. The gulf between the two teams was evident and Newtown had the luxury of only scoring 1-03 in the second half to overcome An Tochar’s challenge.
The home team matched their senior counterparts at times and had a degree of success at midfield, they won numerous kick outs and had a running game that caused Newtown problems when done well.
When it didn’t work however An Tochar were under pressure.
The Newtown tackling was disciplined and they regained possession more often than not when An Tochar were slow moving the ball and a player was isolated or ran into a couple of opposition players.
They couldn’t kick the ball long as the Newtown defence had the measure of the full forward line.
Newtown didn’t have a standout player in attack, they’re forwards rewarded their teammates’ work rate without being ruthlessly efficient.
They scored 1-11 from twenty-five scoring opportunities. They kicked nine wides, dropped three short and Peter Byrne did well to save a goal chance from Declan Doyle.
They started the game with a point within thirty seconds. Mark Fitzsimons won the throw in and launched a flowing move involving Sean Gregory, Conor Odlum and Dean Odlum before Fitzsimons popped up in space to split the posts.
Things didn’t go all Newtown’s way for the first fifteen minutes though and they only led by a point at the quarter hour mark. Peter Byrne and Ross Davis traded frees before Conor Short sold a beautiful dummy to level the match at two points each on the seven minute mark.
Newtown took the lead again, one they would never surrender, through a Davis free and then Barry Davis doubled the lead after Dean Odlum exploded into life and ran at a retreating defence before passing the ball off to the corner forward.
Brendan Swords responded with a free to make it 4-3 after 15 minutes, a close game. Ten minutes into the second half however Newtown led by 1-10 to 4 and the game was as good as over.
An Tochar had a couple of half goal chances during that time they will rue, Glen Carthy intercepted a dangerous pass on his own 14 metre line while Conor Short was unable to gather a pass with the goal at his mercy.
Sean Gregory got his first point of the game when full back Paul O’Riordan burst out of defence with the ball and galloped up the field before finding the youngster.
Moments later Conor Odlum made it six points to three when An Tochar were dispossessed in midfield.
Swords converted another free for An Tochar before Newtown kicked two more points to make it double scores at half time, 8-4. Gregory had a glorious goal chance but his shot was a few feet too high and went over the bar after a beautiful Dean Odlum pass.
Newtown started the second half in the same vain and had their goal within a few minutes of the restart.
A long ball went in towards Cathal McNicholas and he knocked it down to Barry Davis. Mark Fitzsimons had sprinted in support and he lashed the ball past Byrne in the goal.
McNicholas and Ross Davis added a point each to make it 1-10 to 4 by the 40-minute mark. An Tochar outscored Newtown by four points to one in the final 20 minutes to reduce the final margin of victory to six points, a fair reflection on the game.
Scorers – Newtown: Mark Fitzsimons 1-01; Ross Davis (3f) 0-03; Sean Gregory, Dean Odlum 0-02 each; Barry Davis, Cathal McNicholas, Conor Odlum 0-01 each.
An Tochar: Brendan Swords (4f) 0-04; Peter Byrne (f), Conor Short, Enda Kavanagh, Conor Davis 0-01 each.
Newtown: Kenneth Turner; Glen Carthy, Paul O’Riordan, Darragh Callan; Karl Carthy, Neil Martin, Shane Mooney; Declan Doyle, Mark Fitzsimons; Sean Gregory, Dean Odlum, Ross Davis; Barry Davis, Cathal McNicholas, Conor Odlum. Subs: Adam Heffernan for Barry Davis (37 mins); Sean Odlum for Conor Odlum (51 mins); Simon Wilson for Cathal McNicholas (56 mins); Barry Davis for Neil Martin (58 mins, inj.).
An Tochar: Peter Byrne; Eamonn Wolohan, Michael Brady, Jack Mockler; Noel Power, Brendan Swords, Stefan Collier; Conor Short, Liam Gaffney; William Halligan, Enda Kavanagh, Conor Davis; Shane Healy, Joe Coleman, Graham Sutton. Subs: Eoghan Marah for Shane Healy (HT); Joe Gaffney for Michael Brady (37 mins); Liam Kenna for William Halligan (39 mins); Michael Ahearne for Joe Coleman (57 mins).
Referee: Eugene O’Brien