Newmarket were defeated by Dromtariffe in the opening round of the junior B football championship by 0-12 to 1-6 at the latter’s venue on Saturday evening last.

Dromtariffe were the sharper side initially and raced into a three point lead within six minutes. Newmarket eventually settled and Nicky Flanagan and Michael Kenneally had points in quick succession. Dromtariffe had a fourth point at the end of the first quarter but Newmarket enjoyed good spells on dominance at this stage. Despite some fine approach play, Newmarket laboured to add to their tally. Jerry McCarthy eventually found the target and Nicky Flanagan converted a free to tie the sides for the first and only time at 0-4 apiece late in the half. Dromtariffe finished the half in the ascendancy and ensured they enjoyed an interval advantage of 0-6 to 0-4 thanks to two late points.

Dromtariffe resumed in whirlwind fashion and added three superbly taken points in a four minute spell. Newmarket faced an uphill task and another Dromtariffe point left six points between the sides, ten minutes into the half.

To their credit, Newmarket battled back into the contest and Nicky Flanagan added a brace of points. Crucially at this stage, a terrific effort from Nicky Flanagan seemed destined for the corner of the net, but somehow the Dromtariffe goalkeeper produced an incredible save to keep their lead intact. Newmarket made a number of substitutions during the half and each had a positive impact on the side. Robert Stack excelled as the game progressed with John McSweeney and Mattie Fitzpatrick in outstanding form. However, Newmarket again found scoring a huge burden and it was Dromtariffe who added the next point to take a five point lead. This failed to deter Newmarket and after several attempts they manufactured a well taken goal with Nicky Flanagan laying the ball into the path of John Scanlon who struck a shot majestically to the roof of the Dromtariffe net.

Unfortunately for Newmarket, it was Dromtariffe who sealed a keenly contested game with a point late in injury time to progress to the next round.

The Newmarket team was…

Paul Murphy
Michael O’Leary		John McSweeney		Donnacha O’Dea
Matthew Fitzpatrick		Robert Stack		Jack Birtley
	Gerard Casey		Brendan Stack
Donnacha Fitzpatrick		Ian Flanagan		Jerry McCarthy (0-1)
Kieran Lehane		Michael Kenneally (0-1)		Nicky Flanagan (0-4)
SUBS: John Scanlon (1-0), Anthony Lynch, Nicky Barrett, David Enright, Vinny Molloy