JOHN TARRANT
Rebel Óg North Cork U16AHC Final

Newmarket 2-6
Cuchulainns 1-8

NEWMARKET came with a late run to overcome Cuchulainns in the Rebel Óg North Cork U16 A Hurling Championship Final hosted in Meelin last night.
With extra time looming, cometh the hour, cometh the man on sharpshooter Michael Cottrell clipping over the match winning point for Newmarket. The contest was every bit as close as the scoreline suggests though Newmarket did enough to shade the outcome.
For much of the hour, what emerged was a case of energetic endeavour rather than free flowing hurling. Newmarket had started in promising mood with Cottrell finding the net.
Cuchulainns offered flashes of potential through the solid work of Liam Geaney, Darren Browne and Paul O’Keeffe. A goal from Liam O’Keeffe coupled with a point from Darren O’Sullivan helped Cuchulainns to a slender 1-4 to 1-3 advantage at the break.
Scores were again difficult to obtain after the restart though a gritty Newmarket controlled key departments under the watchful eye of Eoin O’Connell, Jamie Hayes and Cottrell. Fittingly, Hayes delivered a timely delivery for John O’Connor to net.
Cuchulainns mounted a recovery, chances of goals denied by the excellent Tadhg Ryan between the Newmarket posts. Plugging away, a trio of points gathered Cuchulainns parity. As a stalemate looked on the cards, Newmarket held one last throw of the dice, Cottrell fouled and the big no.11 converted the resultant free for the winner to allow team captain O’Connell lift the silverware.
NEWMARKET: T Ryan; D Norton, E O’Connell, A O’Callaghan; A Browne, J Hayes, L Birtley; C O’Keeffe, J O’Connor 1-1; J Mullane, M Cottrell 1-5, J Guiney; R O’Keeffe, D O’Doherty 0-1, J Linehan.
Subs. J Murphy, S Meehan, C Browne.
CUCHULAINNS: B Kenneally; L Geaney, M McSweeney, C Moylan; S McSweeney, D Browne, S Healy; R O’Brien, P O’Keeffe 0-1; P Walsh, C Boyce, C Clernon, D O’Sullivan 0-2, L O’Keeffe 1-4, D O’Sullivan.
Subs. J Murphy, R Hopkins, J Fullerton 0-1.
Referee: M J O’Keeffe(Dromtariffe).