The heavy rain that preceded the game ensured soft and difficult ground conditions but Newmarket settled quickly as John Ryan slotted over a fine second minute point. Newmarket began brightly, playing an attractive brand of football and were rewarded with further pointed frees by John Ryan and John Lane after eleven minutes.

A feature of the half was some excellently distributed ball into the forward line while playing in a new position at left corner back, David O’Flynn was truly outstanding.

Mayfield registered their first point in the sixteenth minute but Newmarket replied with a well worked score finished by Denys O’Brien. The sides exchanged another two points with Newmarket maintaining a three point advantage thanks to a converted free from John Ryan. Mayfield however finished the half strongly, Newmarket were indebted to their excellent goalkeeper Niall O’Connor who pulled off a stunning close range save that eventually yielded a point in the twenty fifth minute. The home side closed out the half with two more points, which tied the teams for the only time at 0-5 apiece at the turnover.

Newmarket resumed with a point within two minutes as T.J. Bodie pointed a fine effort and they began a period of dominance with Mark Reidy a driving force throughout at midfield. Six minutes into the half the game took a significant swing in Newmarket’s favour as they were awarded a penalty when the lively John Lane was upended in the square and as so often in the past, Brian O’Riordan stepped up from defence to dispatch the ball to the corner of the net and in the process send the goalkeeper the wrong way. By the end of the quarter some more impressive approach play saw Tony O’Keeffe point to give Newmarket a five point advantage 1-7 to 0-5.

With the defence in fine form, Newmarket were able to add to their tally with another well taken score from T.J. Bodie while they were also guilty of not pressing home their advantage on a few other occasions. John Ryan slotted over an insurance point from a free as the clock ran down but the home side responded with two late points to cut the arrears as Newmarket held firm for a fine win.

The Newmarket team and scorers…

Brian O’Riordan (1-0), T.J. Bodie (0-2), John Ryan (0-4), John Lane (0-1), Denys O’Brien (0-1), Tony O’Keeffe (0-1)

Niall O’Connor
Michael O’Leary		Timothy Murphy		David O’Flynn
Matthew Fitzpatrick		Brian O’Riordan		Bart Daly
	Mark Reidy		Mark Murphy
T.J. Bodie		John Ryan		Gavin Forde
John Lane		Denys O'Brien		Tony O'Keeffe
Subs: Gerard Casey, Barry O’Leary, Sean Doody, Nicky Flanagan, Shane Murphy

The city side opened the scoring with a free in the fifth minute before Newmarket replied when Tony O’Keeffe cut through the Mayfield rearguard to kick a point. Mayfield restored their advantage in the eighth minute but Newmarket tilted the scales in their own favour thanks to two well finished scores from John Ryan and Bart Daly. Some fine individual approach play from John Lane enabled him to punch a point from a narrow angle to give Newmarket a two point lead. Mayfield responded with a point but T.J. Bodie pointed from distance for Newmarket. Both sides were guilty of basic errors and squandering excellent scoring opportunities throughout as a nervy encounter developed. It was Mayfield who finished the half the better and they scored three points in succession to turn over in front with a slender advantage, 0-6 to 0-5.

A scrappy second half followed where only three points were scored in the first twenty two minutes. John Ryan converted a free in the eighth minute and Maurice Feehan regained Newmarket the lead with a neatly taken point. At the end of the third quarter Mayfield scored their first point of the half and the sides were level for the fifth time during the hour at 0-7 each. With the game firmly in the balance and so much at stake both sides pressed to gain the upper hand.

Seven minutes from time Mayfield gained the upper hand with a pointed free and appeared to have gained a winning position when they doubled this lead with three minutes of normal time remaining. To their great credit, Newmarket dug really deep and showed exceptional character to completely turn the tables in unlikely circumstances. Bart Daly was central to this turnaround and he kicked a superb point to leave just a point between the sides. With the game well into injury time a long delivery into the edge of the square from Conor Cronin was well fielded by Kevin O’Sullivan and he laid the ball off to the on rushing Tony O’Keeffe who showed great composure and character to crash the ball to the back of the Mayfield net. Newmarket were buoyant and were very close to scoring a second goal before T.J. Bodie kicked an insurance point and Newmarket were relieved to hear the final whistle as their opponents had no time to respond to the late drama.

The Newmarket team was…

Niall O’Connor
Pa O’Brien		Brian O’Riordan		Barry O’Leary
Mark Reidy		Timothy Murphy		Bart Daly (0-2)
	Kevin O’Sullivan		Denys O’Brien
David O’Flynn		T.J. Bodie (0-2)		Tony O’Keeffe (1-1)
John Ryan (0-2)		John Lane (0-1)		Maurice Feehan (0-1)
SUB: Conor Cronin