Newmarket were pipped at the death by Rockchapel in a very tight contest, by 0-8 to 0-7 in the semi final of the Ducon Cup played in splendid sunshine at Kiskeam on Sunday evening. In hindsight Newmarket will look back and rue a number of scoring opportunities that went to waste.

Rockchapel began the brighter and had two points in the opening four minutes. Newmarket got on the board when the impressive Barry O’Leary converted for a neat point before T.J. Bodie tied the sides in the tenth minute. Full forward Shane Murphy then kicked two points as Newmarket took the lead by 0-4 to 0-2 after sixteen minutes. Newmarket went on to enjoy the better of proceedings with David Guiney, Bart Daly and Mark Murphy to the fore in defence, but they failed to add to their tally despite carving out a number of good chances. Rockchapel added a point which proved the only score in fourteen minutes which left the score 0-4 to 0-3 in Newmarkets favour at the interval.

Rockchapel pointed within a minute of the restart to tie the sides. Newmarket despite impressive passages of play struggled to add to their tally, while two Rockchapel scores tilted the balance in their favour going into the final quarter. T.J. Bodie eventually found the range from a free with Newmarkets first score in thirty three minutes. John Cronin then tied the game for a third time with seven minutes remaining. A move that began with Niall O’Connor ended with Barry O’Leary surging forward to kick Newmarket in front again but Rockchapel responded with an equalizing point. As the game entered the dying moments Rockchapel were awarded a free which they duly converted for what proved to be the decisive score of the game and a heartbreaking defeat for Newmarket.

The Newmarket team was…

Niall O’Connor
David Guiney		Mark Murphy		Anthony Crowley
Trevor Murphy		Bart Daly		Matthew Fitzpatrick
	Jerry McCarthy		Brian Daly
Barry O’Leary (0-2)		John Cronin (0-1)		T.J. Bodie (0-2)
Shane Anthony Murphy		Shane Murphy (0-2)		Timothy Murphy
SUB: Maurice Feehan