Battling Bishopstown snatch deserved draw with Newtownshandrum
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Bishopstown fought back from four points down to snatch a deserved draw with Newtownshandrum in this exciting Co-Op Superstores Cork Premier SHC first-round tie in Fermoy.
After leading for the majority of the first half the city side fell behind on the restart to a scoring burst from Cormac Griffin however Robin Murray’s side showed great composure in the closing stages and fully deserved their first point of this Group A campaign.
“We were underdogs coming up here today so we will take the point out of it but we were unlucky at the end not to win it after making a great comeback,” Murray said afterward.
“We drove on into the last 10 minutes and finished out strongly but really time ran out on us. We came up against a hurling team, Newtown hurl all the time and us being a dual club makes it difficult – we are down to play the Glen next Saturday and the same thing applies. We face the Glen next weekend, their name is synonymous with Cork hurling, top dogs in Cork for years and despite what we saw Saturday night losing to Douglas the Glen are a formidable team.”
For Newtownshandrum manager Pat Mulcahy frustration - and annoyance - were the main emotions in the aftermath.
“I am very frustrated. Some of the decisions were outrageous in my view, I am very upset about it but we will take what we have. I must pay credit to Bishopstown. They played well today and even though we stuck at it and got the goal in the second half they came back at us again. That is probably the best they have played against us in the last three years – the last 20 minutes were really exciting, real championship hurling. It was typical first-round championship hurling, lots of mistakes on both sides but the heart was there from both teams.
“Ultimately a draw is fine you still have to go out and win your next match so we will take what we can from this and try to win our next match against Douglas – and we saw what they are capable of on Saturday night.”
From the off Bishopstown looked up for this one hitting the opening score via a free from James Scally with full forward Brian O’Driscoll doubling their advantage minutes later as Newtown were struggling to get their hands on the ball in scoring positions.
Corner-back Mattie Ryan finally raised a white flag for the men in green before the lively Conor Griffin had the equaliser in the 10th minute. The game was very much tit for tat for the remainder of the half with Bishopstown holding the advantage from the 13th to the 30th minute thanks in large part to a goal by Colm O’Driscoll.
Griffin, Ryan and a brilliant sideline cut from Jamie Coughlan kept Newtown in touch throughout but scores from Conor Hegarty, Patrick Cronin and O’Driscoll sent Bishopstown in at the break leading 1-7 to 0-9.
A brace of Griffin scores had Newtown back in front soon after the resumption before a brilliant goal from All-Ireland U20-winning captain Cormac O’Brien, after a superb pass from Cork star Tim O’Mahony, gave the North Cork side the lead on 40 minutes.
Three scores in three minutes from Conor Twomey, Cathal Bowles and O’Brien looked to be edging Newtown to victory but credit must go to Bishopstown as they dug deep to scramble a draw late on – no more than they deserved.
Both sides will need to up their games for next week – 18 wides each in this one won’t do in round two
C O’Brien 1-2; C Griffin 0-4; M Ryan (two frees), J Coughlan (one sideline) 0-3 each; C Twomey, C Bowles 0-2 each; S Griffin, Jerry Lane 0-1 each.
C O’Driscoll 1-2; J Scally 0-4 (all frees); P Cronin 0-3; C O’Hora, C Hegarty (two frees), B Murray 0-2 each; T Murray, D Lester, B O’Driscoll 0-1 each.
J Bowles; K Coughlan, R Fallon, M Ryan; K O’Sullivan, T O’Mahony, C Twomey; C Bowles, C O’Brien; D O’Connor, C Griffin, J Coughlan; D Guiney, M Thompson, S Griffin.
D Hawe for K Coughlan (20), J Lane for M Thompson (35), P Noonan for S Griffin (50), S McCarthy for C Bowles (59).
K O’Halloran; E Byrne, S O’Neill, C O’Driscoll; D Lester, B Murphy, J Scally; C Hegarty, B Murray; M Power, P Cronin, C O’Hora; C O’Driscoll, B O’Driscoll, T Murray.
K O’Driscoll for S O’Neill (half time).
Cathal McAllister (Aghada)
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