Seven-goal Newport power past Cashel to book county final place

FBD Insurance County Minor A Hurling Championship Semi-Final

Newport 7-20

Cashel King Cormacs 2-6

North champions Newport are back in a county final after they had too much in hand for fourteen-man Cashel in a very one-sided semi-final played at Templemore last Saturday afternoon.

Leading from start to finish, Newport made light of the West champions, who fell to fourteen men when full-back Cormac McInerney was red-carded in the 16th minute. The dismissal was a setback to Cashel, who had just scored their first goal after being held scoreless up to then.

The strange thing about the dismissal was that Newport, despite having an extra man, appeared to have stage fright as they went about finishing the half but only managed to add two more points, while Cashel added three to leave ten points separating the teams at the break on a scoreline of 3-7 to 1-3.

The interval gave Newport a chance to reboot as they increased their lead to twelve by the 36th minute, 3-11 to 1-5.

Yet despite the big lead, Newport found Cashel a hard nut to crack, but the West champions failed to turn possession into scores and once Charlie Tobin scored Newport’s fourth goal there was no going back as they outscored the Westmen 3-7 to 1-1 in the last quarter.

Newport had set the pace in the opening minutes, with goals by Cormac Shanahan and James Ryan giving the North champions a 2-2 to nil lead after six minutes.

Helped by a disciplined backline where Stephen O’Brien, James Ryan, Ronan O’Mahoney and Kevin Fitzpatrick controlled the pace, while Conor McLoughlin and Oisin Kennedy controlled midfield, Newport went for the jugular and James Ryan’s second goal and Newport’s third came in the 13th minute before Ollie Roche added a free (his second), which put Newport 3-5 to nil in front.

Yet Cashel had their moments, with Colin Maher and Evan Ryan making attempts to create danger, and in the 16th minute a run by Evan Ryan had potential when his thirty-metre run saw his angled shot from close range saved by goalkeeper Cian Donoghue before M J Kennedy fired home the rebound.

Cormac McInerney’s dismissal came next, but pointed frees by Denis O’Callaghan and M J Anglim gave Cashel some hope. Newport replied with points by Harry Noone and another Ollie Roche free before the half finished with a point by Eimhin Ryan to leave Newport in front by ten at the changeover.

The second half began with both teams swapping scores, starting with a Conor McLoughlin free from close to halfway before M J Kennedy replied from play. The sequence continued with James Ryan (N) and Eimhin Ryan swapping points before Newport extended their lead to twelve after Luke McIntyre (half-time replacement for Colm Ryan) scored from play and Ollie Roche added a free in the 37th minute.

Cashel continued to take the fight to Newport and five minutes later Cashel had M J Anglim cutting a hole in the Newport defence before he was hauled down for a penalty. Eimhin Ryan went for power but Cian Donoghue saved and the danger was cleared.

There was more from Cashel as Colin Maher led the attack from midfield, helped by Ben Fitzgerald, Tommy O’Connor and Kyle Cully, but the extra man would catch them out and in the 46th minute Newport scored their fourth goal through Charlie Tobin after the Newport centre-forward made the most of an Ollie Roche free which came back off the upright.

However, Cashel refused to go away and within a minute Cashel had the Newport net bulging after M J Kennedy goaled from an acute angle. That goal was a signal for Newport to do something about the Cashel threat and two minutes later a Charlie Tobin point made it 4-13 to 2-5, which saw the floodgates opening.

Within seconds, they had two goals, with Cormac Shanahan and Charlie Tobin raising green flags. Another Roche free followed and, with the subs bench in action, it was fitting that Caleb Byrne found time to find the net as everything was falling into place for the leaders.

It was one-way traffic now and Newport used the free time as they rattled five more points through the efforts of Roche, Darragh Hickey, Tobin, Roche again, with the final score coming from the ever-present Kevin Fitzpatrick, who went on a run up the left wing before bisecting the posts from thirty metres.

Newport: Cian Donoghue; Stephen O’Brien, Aaron Lane, Ronan Gaffney; Colm Ryan, Kevin Fitzpatrick, Ronan O’Mahoney (0-1); Conor McLoughlin (0-1), Oisin Kennedy; Darragh Hickey (0-2), Charlie Tobin (2-3), Harry Noone (0-1); James Ryan (2-1), Ollie Roche (0-7, 0-5f), Cormac Shanahan (2-2).

Subs used: Luke McIntyre (0-1) for C Ryan (HT); Jack Landers for Gaffney (53); Michael Shanahan for O’Mahoney (53); Tom McCabe for O’Brien (53); Caleb Byrne (1-0) for C Shanahan (54).

Cashel King Cormacs: Jason O’Sullivan; Harry O’Connor, Cormac McInerney, Scott Underwood; Kyle Cully, Tommy O’Connor, Ben Fitzgerald; Denis O’Callaghan, Colin Maher (0-1); Ultan O’Donoghue, Cian Fitzgerald, Evan Ryan; Eimhin Ryan (0-3), MJ Anglim (0-1), MJ Kennedy (2-1).

Subs used: Aidan O’Dwyer for C Maher (28, inj); Michael O’Brien for O’Callaghan (53); Brian Devitt for Anglim (54); Michael Conor O’Brien for Underwood (55).

Referee: Johnny Dooley (Thurles Gaels)