Naughton kills off Killeagh

Huge relief for Newtownshandrum at Kilworth on Saturday, heartache though for Killeagh, their Trojan effort to cause a huge Cork SHC upset thwarted in extra-time by two cracking Cathal Naughton goals, leaving them with a tricky backdoor clash with Cloyne.

It was a result Newtown hardly deserved. Their short-passing game, so sweet at times, produced some excellent points, but they rarely got in behind a tough Killeagh rearguard. And when the Killeagh goals came, against a very loose Newtown rearguard, they found themselves in a battle.

Naughton’s good fortune was cruel luck on Killeagh defender Kieran Lane. Up to that point he had marshalled the Cork forward well. In fact the Killeagh defence, especially Colin Fogarty, Brendan Barry and Lane, were terrific, keeping the Newtown inside division relatively quiet. But quiet only to a point, for when Michael Bowles popped over a 35th minute point, every Newtown forward had hit the target.