ON SATURDAY night, hours after Newcestown completed a sensational county senior A double, their coach Kevin Mulcahy took to X (formerly known as Twitter).
‘What a team, and a club,’ he said.
‘One percent strategy, 99 percent culture.’
The photo that accompanied Mulcahy’s message saw the Kevin McTernan Cup sitting in the middle of the Newcestown dressing-room after their county final win against Dohenys.
It’s the second county senior A title this club won in two weeks, following on from the hurling success at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, too. What a time to be a Newcestown player and supporter.
It’s a success story that deserves to dominate the headlines.
In 2022, Newcestown won one game in the senior A hurling championship and were relegated at the hands of Éire Óg in premier senior football. But in 2023 they bounced back to unbelievably win back-to-back county titles at Senior A level in both codes.
What a turnaround. What an achievement. What a club. They will now play premier senior in both codes in 2024.
The hurling title was secured two weeks ago with a replay win against Blarney, but on Saturday, after a slow start Newcestown just got stronger and stronger to run out easy winners over a gallant Dohenys outfit, 0-13 to 0-8.
Aghabullogue did the double at intermediate level, now Newcestown have done it at senior A level and St Finbarr’s nearly did it at premier senior level last year. Surely that puts to bed the moaning and groaning we have been listening to about the impossibility of being successful in both codes since the championships were revamped and the seasons were split.
Newcestown's Gearoid O'Donovan coming out with the ball past Dohenys' Rhys Coakley during the Bon Secours SAFC final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday evening. (Photo: Paddy Feen)
What separated Cork from other counties in the past, maybe apart from Galway, has been our ability to produce great dual players. It gave us a certain identity through players like Teddy McCarthy, Brian Corcoran and Sean Óg Ó hÁilpin. Dual status at inter-county level is seen as an impossibility now. Will the successes of our dual clubs see a change of mindset? As we have seen this season particularly, nothing is impossible if the players are managed properly.
A few weeks back, prior to the date for last Saturday’s football final being pushed out due to the hurling final going to a replay, I tipped Dohenys for victory. But in the last nine weeks Dohenys played one competitive game because of qualifying straight to the semi-finals from their group – their last group game was September 10th and then they beat Knocknagree in the semi-final on October 7th. Since September 10th, and ahead of last Saturday, Newcestown had played six championship games across both codes. They were battle-hardened, carrying huge momentum and belief from winning tight games and they were match-fit. That all made a huge difference.
Still, Dohenys got the dream start. Keith White was buzzing and had two points on the board inside two minutes and they led 0-5 to 0-1 on the quarter-hour mark. They were moving the ball at pace, they used the width of the pitch and they had runners coming from everywhere. In and around that time, Fionn Herlihy was questionably pulled twice by referee John Ryan for over-carrying when it looked like he was in for scores that could have pushed the gap out further. The momentum began to switch, the turnovers began to come, and the green grass started to disappear for Mark Buckley, Fionn Herlihy and White. Newcestown got stronger and stronger.
Newcestown manager Tim Buckley and his coach Kevin Mulcahy had targeted two major things to upset Dohenys game-plan – shutting down Stephen Daly’s kickout and neutralising Fionn Herlihy. Daly had been 100 percent from his restarts in the semi-final against Knocknagree, but he was at 60 percent last Saturday. Herlihy scored 0-8 in the semi-final, but was held scoreless by Trevor Horgan.
Newcestown, at times, pushed five players inside to cut the spaces to go short and during that momentum shift that led to a 0-6 to 0-5 half-time score there were two kickouts that went out for line balls. Big moments psychologically. Horgan did a good job but got great support from a well-organised defence. Wing backs Luke Meade and James Kelliher dropped in to close down the top of the D. Richard O’Sullivan and Sean O’Donovan dropped back into the wing back slots. The result was they stifled the Dohenys’ full-forward line.
Dohenys had five points after 14 minutes and only registered three more for the rest of the game.
This was a huge day for the Buckley family – Tim as the winning manager and his son David who got the man-of-the-match award. David was the standout player on the pitch with a total of 0-9 to his name, three from placed balls. He is a two-footed, big, strong and mobile forward who can win his own ball and break the line. Performing at your best on the biggest of occasions also shows that he is very strong mentally. Will he force his way into John Cleary’s plans for the upcoming inter-county season?
Dohenys boss Declan O’Dwyer, his backroom staff and players will be disappointed with this performance. They just didn’t have an answer to Newcestown’s raw hunger in the second half. They have had a great year and have made telling progress in their efforts to get back to the top table, including winning a Division 3 county league title. They are a team full of pace but they need to add size around the middle and in their back line. Easier said than done either, you have them or you don’t.
For Newcestown they will be battling at the very top level in both codes next season. A lot to look forward to, but first a dream season to enjoy.
