Bishopstown 2-8
Newmarket 0-12
Last season’s semi-finalists Newmarket made their exit from the McCarthy Insurance Group Co. Senior A FC on a defeat to Bishopstown at Mourneabbey.
In a game that ebbed and flowed in a physical battle, Newmarket looked well positioned on overturning a two point interval deficit to jump four ahead. Appearing to be in a vulnerable position approaching the three quarter stage, the ‘Town dug deep and stormed right back into the reckoning.
Indeed Bishopstown grabbed a significant breakthrough once Kevin Murphy netted, a score of inspirational proportions on breathing new life into their game to proceed and edge matters to the finishing line.
From a competitive encounter with tenacious qualities evident on both sides, Bishopstown enjoyed a promising start, Paul Honohan won a penalty and up stepped defender Liam Hogan to convert surperbly past Newmarket goalkeeper Josh O’Keeffe.
The city side might well have added a second green flag only for Michael Nunan to blast over the crossbar. Having started off in sluggish fashion, Newmarket worked their way back into the contest, three points from Hugh and Barry O’Connor narrowed the arrears to 1-2 to 0-4.
Newmarket forfeited a number of chances, Bishopstown ‘keeper Colm O’Driscoll made crucial saves from Hugh O’Connor and Bart Daly before a Conor Dunne point helped the City side lead 1-4 to 0-5 at the break.
Newmarket perked up for the second half, thundering in the game with substitute Ryan O’Keeffe creating an impression with back to back points. The momentum was certainly with Newmarket, Hugh O’Connor added three points and one to team captain Paudie Allen pushed the Duhallow side 0-11 to 1-4 ahead.
Having conceded six points on the bounce, it demanded a serious response from Bishopstown and duly arrived, Nunan the instigator for a kick pass to Patrick Casey who transferred the ball across the danger zone for Murphy to apply the finish.
And Newmarket faced a further burden straight upon the concession of the goal, influential Cathal Browne picked up a black card. Newmarket attempted to respond, county Under 20 player Hugh O’Connor thwarted by the alert Diarmuid Lester.
The game had taken a different pattern when Conor Dunne and Simon Collins added points to shade the scoreboard. Clearly Bishopstown had found a new gear to add a further pair of points.
Newmarket without a score for 15 minutes needed a response and a point from Aidan Browne broke a barren spell. The contest threatened to boil over on a number of occasions, Bishopstown losing Kevin Murphy to a black and Honohan dealt a second yellow.
Down to 13 players, Bishopstown were largely forced to fight a rearguard action during the latter stages but a combination of resilient defending and inaccurate shooting from distance by Newmarket failed to impact the scoreline.
The outcome sees Bishopstown and Knocknagree progress from the Group with Newmarket and Clyda Rovers pointless. Knocknagree and Knocknagree meet in the concluding preliminary game, that leaves Newmarket coming up against Clyda where a win for either will allay relegation concerns.
BISHOPSTOWN: C O’Driscoll; P Casey, M Murphy, L Hogan 1-0 p; K Murphy 1-0, E Byrne, J Murphy; C Dunne 0-5, (0-3f, 0-1`m), S Sheridan; D Holland, D Lester, M Nunan 0-1; B Clifford, P Honohan, K McFadden 0-1 Subs: B McCarthy for J Murphy (15, inj), S Collins 0-1 for M Nunan (44), Nunan for P Casey (60)
NEWMARKET: J O’Keeffe; B Daly, R Lynn, M Browne; A Browne 0-1, P Allen 0-1, P Browne; M Cottrell, C Browne; D O’Keeffe, H O’Connor 0-6 (0-4f, 0-1 ’45), C O’Keeffe; A Ryan, B O’Connor 0-1, D Cottrell 0-1 Subs: R O’Keeffe 0-2 (0-1 f) for D O’Keeffe (HT), T Ryan for C O’Keeffe (40), D Hannon for Daly (53), D Norton for P Browne (55), D O’Keeffe for D Cottrell (59)
REFEREE: James Bermingham (Bride Rovers)
