Winter wonderland for nifty Newtown

ON A day when winter finally came to town, with cold driving rain under stormy darkening skies, two outstanding club sides nevertheless combined to give us a club hurling match of the uppermost quality in this, the opening round of the Munster Club SHC.

Even the magnificent sod in Semple Stadium can only withstand so much, and the heavy rains over the past few days meant conditions underfoot were testing, to put it mildly, yet the crowd of 3,500 witnessed hurling of the highest order, score-taking from the top drawer.

For Newtownshandrum the peerless Ben O’Connor ended with a Grand Slam, scoring points from play, from frees, from a 65 and from a sideline, midfielder Cathal Naughton scorched through for three points, while Ben’s twin brother Jerry also had a hat-trick, two of his points coming in the trench warfare of the second-half while being marshalled by no less a defender than recently crowned All Star Pádraic Maher.