Newtown's burning desire to achieve greatness is what has them within touching distance of a second All-Ireland club hurling title in three years, according to wing back Alan T O'Brien. When the Newtownshandrum players climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand in Croke Park two years ago to accept the Tommy Moore Cup, their place in history was assured. But not content with one All-Ireland club hurling success, the highly ambitious and extremely skilful North Cork outfit have battled their way to another national decider and are intent on rewriting the history books once again. "We're not yet satisfied, despite all the success we've had over the past few years," says Newtown half back Alan T O'Brien. "We're constantly striving to improve ourselves, trying to achieve perfection. I don't know if it's possible for any team to give the perfect performance, but that's what keeps us going. I don't think anyone can question our hunger - look at the number of close matches we've come through so far this year." With just 800 people in the parish and no real hurling tradition, Newtown's achievements since the turn of the millennium have been nothing short of astounding. A junior club for much of their history, Newtown's fortunes began to change in 1996 when they won the county intermediate championship. Two years later, they won the first of three successive under 21 titles and then came a major breakthrough in 2000 when they defeated Erin's Own to capture their first senior championship. After losing the 2002 county final to Blackrock, they exacted sweet revenge on the Rockies in the 2003 decider before going on to comfortably account for Dunloy in the All-Ireland final. Cloyne ended their reign as county and All-Ireland champions in 2004, but they have bounced back again and are just 60 minutes away from another Croke Park success. "It would be some achievement if we could pull it off again, but we'll have to be at our very best to beat Portumna. We've come back strongly after losing the 2004 county semi-final to Cloyne when the previous two years of constant going probably took its toll on us. "We've regained the old hunger over the past year and have made it back to the All-Ireland final. Having got this far, we don't want to come away from Croke Park empty-handed," the 26-year-old adds. Newtown defeated Cloyne in the county final last October before going on to beat Thurles Sarsfields and Ballygunner in the Munster championship. They were slow starters against Thurles, who were managed by former Newtown coach Ger Cunningham, and trailed by 0-7 to 0-1 early in the game. But calling on all their experience, they fought back to triumph by six points, 1-16 to 0-13. In the provincial final against Ballygunner, a late burst of scores saw Newtownshandrum come from three points down to snatch a 0-16 to 1-12 victory. The Waterford champions looked set to take the spoils when a Gearoid O'Connor goal gave them a 1-11 to 0-11 lead with 10 minutes remaining. The Cork side refused to panic, however, and quick-fire points from the O'Connor twins, Ben and Jerry, as well as from John Paul King, saw them prevail by the narrowest of margins. Bernie O'Connor's charges were expected to make light work of Ulster champions Ballygalget in the All-Ireland semi-final, but it transpired that they had another close shave. Newtown seemed to be taken aback by the ferocity of the Ballygalget challenge and a major upset looked to be on the cards when an Eoin Clarke goal helped the Down side to a 1-7 to 0-6 interval lead. On the restart, Patrick Monan extended Ballygalget's advantage with a magnificent sideline cut, but Newtown then staged one of their trademark comebacks which saw the O'Connor twins really come into their own. As the game ticked into stoppage time, Newtown led by a point but had to survive a late scare when John McGrattan's attempt for an equalizer drifted narrowly wide. "Contrary to what some people were saying, we didn't take Ballygalget for granted," O'Brien points out. "We knew going up to Portlaoise that it was going to be a tough game and that's exactly how it turned out. The northern teams have improved an awful lot and it's easy to forget that Dunloy beat both Mount Sion and Portumna in recent All-Ireland semi-finals. We nearly got caught, but thankfully we managed to come through." Alan T, whose father Tom is kitman and treasurer of the North Cork club, acknowledges that Newtown are a more mature team than they were two years ago and is hoping that the experience of having played in Croke Park before will stand to them. "We know what to expect going up this time. We'll travel up to Dublin the day before, relax that night and again for a few hours on the morning of the game before preparing ourselves for the task in hand. "We have huge respect for Portumna and I can't see any more than a puck of the ball separating us. They are similar to ourselves in that they have a lot of pace and have very good forwards. It means an awful lot to have pace in a big open pitch like Croke Park and I'm sure it will be a very enjoyable game from a spectator's point of view." Newtown's running game has drawn much criticism from the hurling purists, but O'Brien suggests that it would ludicrous for them to break from it at this stage. "We've stuck to our running game because it's what we know best. It has stood us in good stead up until now so why should we change it? "The style was introduced by Bernie O'Connor when he managed us as under 12s and has stayed with us ever since. It is generally very hard for teams to defend against and when you have lightning quick forwards like Ben and Jerry O'Connor in your team, you have to use a style that best suits you. It's all about playing to your strengths." While the Newtown team has changed little from two years ago, they are now under different management. The 2004 management team of Patsy Morrissey, Ger Cunningham and Seanie Clifford has been replaced by Bernie O'Connor, Liam Ryan and Maurice Riordan, all of whom had been involved in different capacities down the years. "The change in management wasn't a big deal really. Bernie was manager before Patsy, while Liam Ryan was over the Newtown under 16 team that won the county championship last year. Maurice is also Newtown through and through, and has been involved for many years." Alan T is not related to his namesake and next-door neighbour Alan G O'Brien, who is pushing hard for a starting place at corner back. Along with the O'Connor twins, goalkeeper Paul Morrissey, team captain Brendan Mulcahy and fellow half back Philip Noonan, he has won every honour available to him at club level since he was 12 years of age and don't be surprised if he is part of another triumphant Newtown team on St. Patrick's Day. Tweet

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