Newcestown have a sense of where they belong

The usual presumption about an intermediate or junior game – particularly when it’s timed to warm up the crowd for a senior decider – is that the execution can be some way behind the endeavour.

In the Premier Intermediate hurling championship final yesterday, though, Newcestown versus Valley Rovers was a good deal better than that, right up to the point when the former stepped on the accelerator in the run-up to half-time.

Newcestown looked like a team that won’t get a nosebleed when they ascend to the next rung of the ladder if yesterday was a fair sample of their wares.