Sea Cargo Services will act as official sponsor to the Newtownshandrum hurling club for the next two years. As a long-serving member of the club's first team (and an All-Ireland club winner in 2004), company accountant Brendan Mulcahy was the ideal man to provide Hogan Stand with an insight into this new partnership. As a fixture on the Newtownshandrum premier XV for the past nine seasons, Brendan Mulcahy has enjoyed quite a memorable voyage. The villagers have not only established themselves as one of the strongest hurling clubs on Leeside, but have gone beyond the peaks reached by most clubs. In 2004, at Croke Park on St Patrick's Day, they achieved the ultimate honour available to any club team in the land when beating Dunloy in the All-Ireland club SH championship final. That success completed a truly remarkable journey for a club that had been playing junior fare in North Cork only twelve years earlier. Brendan remembers the incredible breakthrough with a tremendous degree of satisfaction: "A huge effort went into it and we were delighted to be crowned All-Ireland champions. It's a great competition in that it gives the ordinary club player a day out in Croke Park and a chance to shine on the big stage. A lot of these guys would never get to participate in an occasion like it, otherwise. We went into uncharted territory and there was a huge level of hope and expectation in the village. "Within eight years, we had gone from being an intermediate club to playing in an All-Ireland final, so one of the hardest challenges facing the players was to detach ourselves from the excitement gripping the village. But it went well for us on the day and we enjoyed the celebrations afterwards. To be All-Ireland champions was unreal and the win really gave the club something to build on." Amazingly, not content with being the first Cork club in 16 years to land the Tommy Moore Cup, the Green & Golds returned to Croke Park two years later for another All-Ireland final appearance. This time they were beaten by Portumna, despite a gallant effort. "We didn't perform on the day and Portumna have since shown that they are a great team by winning another All-Ireland this year," notes Brendan, whose brothers Pat and Donal joined him on the '04 All-Ireland winning side. Newtown's rise to national prominence was nothing short of breathtaking. They only captured their first-ever county SHC in 2000, followed by a second in 2003, when they went on to add Munster and All-Ireland titles. In 2005, a third Cork SHC was quickly followed by a second Munster crown and a second All-Ireland final appearance. The seeds for that success were sown when the club annexed three successive county U21 titles between 1998 and 2000. Most of the players who enjoyed the senior success graduated from these teams. Newtown' were beaten in the Cork county final last year and are through to the business end again in '08, with quarter-finals looming at the time of writing. "Coming from a county like Cork, the only thing you can focus on is trying to win the county SHC. You can never afford to be looking any further. Of the eight quarter-finalists this year, all eight are good enough to go all the way, so you can never even think of All-Irelands." Directly in front of him in the team line-out, at centre half back, is Brendan's brother and former Cork star Pat Mulcahy. The Newtownshandrum team also boasts the extraordinary double talent of the O'Connor twins, Ben and Jerry, so it's not hard to see how they have scaled such dizzy heights in so short a time. Nor is it difficult to understand why Cork city headquartered company Sea Cargo Services is throwing its lot behind the Newtownshandrum men as official club sponsor, with immediate effect. Speaking about the genesis of the partnership, Brendan, who joined the Sea Cargo team as company accountant 18 months ago in February 2007, explains: "It was really just a matter of perfect timing for both parties. At the start of the year, the club were looking for a new sponsor and Sea Cargo Services also happened to be looking to increase their profile around the same time. The arrangement made sense to both parties so a good deal was worked out that was suitable to both sides and Sea Cargo will sponsor adult hurling in the club for the next two years." The deal is seen as a major coup for club chairman Patsy Morrissey, an All-Ireland winning selector with Cork in 2005. It also affords Sea Cargo Services a chance to increase their profile within the local community. The company was established in 2002 by Cork city entrepreneurs Graham Parker and Yvonne Murphy and has already established itself as a leader in its chosen field of excellence. With bases in Cork and Dublin, SCS provides its customers with an innovative and comprehensive range of sea cargo services of a consistently high quality. Specialising in deep sea container and reefer work, the company offers importers and exporters access to global markets, including an unrivalled Ireland-Asia container service. The service is tailored to each client, driven by huge buying power and individual service, offering importers the best price and the highest service levels. Using the most sophisticated technology, Sea Cargo Service affords clients complete visibility of their goods throughout the journey, from the point of booking through to vessel arrival. Through a carefully-chosen network of partners and associates, a comprehensive service is also offered to North America, Central America and the Caribbean, Australia/New Zealand, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Africa, Eastern Europe and Russia. Tweet

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