Newmarket qualified for the final of the Duhallow Junior B Football championship following a big home semi final victory over St. John’s by 2-17 to 1-2 in blustery conditions on Sunday.

Newmarket’s ace marksman Seanie Francis O’Connor mastered the tricky conditions by expertly judging two well struck pointed frees in the opening five minutes. Mattie Fitzpatrick was in outstanding form throughout as the Newmarket defence dominated but up front several scoring opportunities were squandered as eight wides were recorded during the half.

A terrific crossfield pass by Seanie Francis O’Connor found Robert Stack in the fourteenth minute and the influential corner forward found the target with a well struck left foot kick. Some well worked link play enabled John Cronin to score his first point of the afternoon before Eddie Allen gave Newmarket a five point lead by the eighteenth minute.

St. John’s opened their account with a point in the twentieth minute but the rest of the half failed to produce a score despite several openings and Newmarket turned over in front by 0-5 to 0-1 at the half time whistle.

Four minutes into the second half as Eddie Allen closed in on goal he was upended by a defender and he went on to slot the resultant free over the crossbar. Centre half back and team captain Kevin O’Connor stormed forward on one of many solo runs before blasting a point a minute later before Seanie Francis O’Connor stretched the lead to seven points. Newmarket were now in full flow with Seanie Francis O’Connor dictating the attack. He blitzed through the defensive rearguard to place Brian Daly in on goal and despite his goalbound shot being smothered, Robert Stack was on hand to finish the rebound to the corner of the net from close range.

Jonathan Flaherty was next to get on the scoreboard with an excellent point before a second Newmarket goal followed. On this occasion it was Kevin O’Connor that burst through the middle and once again Brian Daly was thwarted on finding the net but this time John Cronin supplied the finishing touch. Seanie Francis O’Connor added two sublime points before St. John’s pointed midway through the half to leave the score reading 2-11 to 0-2.

John Cronin superbly pointed twice within a minute before once more Seanie Francis O’Connor stamped his class on the contest with his sixth point of the hour. Eddie Allen and John Cronin added to their increasing individual tallies before St. John’s blasted home a goal with five minutes remaining. Jerry McCarthy clipped over the final point of the game as Newmarket now progress to a final date against Rockchapel.

The Newmarket team and scorers…

John Cronin (1-4), Seanie Francis O’Connor (0-6), Robert Stack (1-1), Eddie Allen (0-3), Kevin O’Connor (0-1), Jonathan Flaherty (0-1), Jerry McCarthy (0-1).

Shane McAuliffe
Brendan Stack		John McSweeney		Pa O’Brien
Michael Kenneally		Kevin O'Connor		Matthew Fitzpatrick
	Jonathan Flaherty		Shane A Murphy
Eddie Allen		Seanie Francis O Connor		Kieran Lehane
Robert Stack		Brian Daly		John Cronin
Subs: Anthony Crowley, Jerry McCarthy, Paul Murphy, Alan Dugdale, Jerry McCarthy