Newmarket went down to a disappointing defeat, away to Cullen in their opening encounter of the Ducon Cup, the home side running out very convincing winners by 2-11 to 0-4 on Saturday afternoon.

The opening exchanges were tight before Cullen eventually got on the scoreboard on pointing after seven minutes. Newmarket suffered an immediate setback as Cullen found the net less than a minute later, finding a way past Newmarket goalkeeper Kieran Lehane who pulled off a number of fine saves during the game. Cullen had stretched their advantage to seven points before Newmarket eventually pointed when Nicky Flanagan converted a free after twenty four minutes. An overworked Newmarket rearguard were well served by a number of excellent individual displays. Niall O’Connor was a towering figure at full back well flanked by Donnacha Fitzpatrick and Ian Flanagan while outside them Matthew Fitzpatrick was a driving force throughout the hour. Cullen added a fifth point and they entered the half time break with a lead of 1-5 to 0-1.

Newmarket remained under pressure during the third quarter as Cullen added five unanswered points to their tally. Nicky Flanagan was Newmarket’s sole contributor to the scoreboard on the day but his three second half frees proved mere consolation in a heavy defeat. At the other end the defence was again pinned back but held out until late in the contest before Cullen crashed home a second goal.

The Newmarket team and scorers…

Nicky Flanagan (0-4)

Kieran Lehane
Jeremy Murphy		Niall O’Connor		Ian Flanagan
Matthew Fitzpatrick		Conor Cronin		Alan Ryan
	Jonathan Flaherty		Michael Kenneally
Gavin Forde		Daniel Culloty		Michael Cottrell
Nicky Flanagan		Shane Murphy		Eddie Allen
Subs: Donnacha Fitzpatrick, Robert Stack, Anthony Lynch, Shane Anthony Murphy