This article is from page 81 of the 2009-09-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 81 JPG
DARKNESS was again an issue on Sunday evening, but even in the bright sunshine of an August morn- ing, it is unlikely that it would have made any difference to this result. Already qualified, Newmarket, de- spite being understrength, could af- ford to be somewhat lacklustre and still end up comfortable winners as a disappointing Clarecastle side could not muster up even a championship SP NADOTSAR@AT-H OLesbTSXon
The fierceness of the rivalry be- tween this neighbouring pair down through the years made this an entic- ing game for neutrals, with the larg- est attendence of the weekend saved for last. Only pride was at stake for Newmarket, having eased into the quarter-finals with a game to spare whearas this should have meant eve- rything to the Magpies who were hanging onto to their championship lives by their fingernails.
Nothing but a win would suffice but far from making it difficult for their neighbours, they found them- selves four points down within three minutes and from that point on, the Magpies were always chasing the game more in hope than with any real conviction.
After such a blistering start, New- market looked to be heading for a comfortable victory but despite be- ing urged to push on, began to mis- fire and failed to score for the next
ten minutes. Clarecastle couldn’t capitalise though; Tyrone Kearse didn’t catch a 20-metre free correctly but managed to convert the resultant 65 and Aaron Considine weaved through for a point. Newmarket soon brushed off that recovery when on the puck-out Kieran Devitt picked out the unmarked Eoin Hayes at
halfway and his high delivery broke through for Colin Ryan to hammer home from close range.
By half-time, the Blues held a I- 5 to 0-3 advantage but had also hit eight wides and even though substi- tute Michael McInerney made an 1m- mediate impact on the restart with a point, the Magpies finally found their
range, led by Kearse, to hit four unan- swered points by the 39th minute and topple the lead to just two points. Any thoughts of a rebellion were soon quenched by another Newmar- ket goal, this time from a Colin Ryan penalty after Seanie Arthur was tripped by Alan O’Loughlin going through on goal in the 41st minute.
That sucker-punch drained the life out of Clarecastle’s challenge and while they did empty the bench in search of inspiration, the Blues man- aged to match them point for point for the remainder. Without a sniff of goal, Clarecastle’s championship lives, much like the daylight, faded into the nightsky while neighbours Newmarket march on with their per- fect championship record still intact.