Cork County Club Senior Hurling Championship 2003 - 3rd Round
Preview Of Newtwon V Ballyhea
You can always be guaranteed a great game between these two sides and this Saturday evening will be no exception. Newtown will be favourites to advance to the 1/4 finals but when it comes to the big "Derby" anything can happen. There is a lot at stake here. The winners will advance to the 1/4 Finals while the losers won't see Championship action till next year.
This is the third meeting of the sides at senior level with Ballyhea victorious in the previous occasions in 1982 and 1984. Much has happened since then with Newtown winning the County Intermediate in 1996 and then the County Senior in 2000. Ballyhea on the other hand reached the county final in 1995 only to lose to Na Piarsaigh. Both teams have dominated the U-21 A grade for the last ten years. Ballyhea won the U-16 Premier Hurling Title in 2001 and a number of these players will feature in Saturday nights game
Newtown got to the 3rd Round by seeing off Midleton in the first Round and hence went straight through to the 3rd Round. Ballyhea were beaten by Cloyne after a replay in the first Round, but they got themselves together to see off Castlelyons in the Second Round to advance to where they are today.
Newtown will look to their Cork Senior representatives for inspiration. Top performances from Ben & Jerry O' Connor, Paul Morrissey and Pat Mulcahy will make it very difficult for our lads. But take nothing away from Ballyhea who will be looking to Neil Ronan and our 3 Cork minors - Barry Coleman, Owen O' Sullivan, Maurice O' Sullivan to steer us in the right direction.
All in all it should be a classic encounter with each team giving their all. It will be hard to call the outcome of this match. Ballyhea's run in the league has been poor of late while Newtown were unbeaten in their first four matches, only losing to Sarsfields in their last league outing. But as everyone knows, league form counts for nothing when it comes to Championship matches.
Lets hope that our lads can do the business on Saturday and the best of luck to both Teams.
