Milltown crowned Intermediate champions after second epic encounter in six days

NATIONAL ELECTRICAL WHOLESALERS INTERMEDIATE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL REPLAY 

MILLTOWN 2-10 SUNCROFT 1-12 

Second half goals from club legend Colin O’Shea and corner-forward Paddy Donoghue proved crucial as Milltown edged out a battling Suncroft by a single point to clinch the National Electrical Wholesalers Intermediate title at the second time of asking at blustery Cedral St Conleth’s Park.

For the second week in a row these teams enthralled a big crowd with a gripping, if low-scoring contest, the physicality and ‘piggery’ around the middle making for an absorbing watch.

And once more there was drama at the death with Suncroft’s Fionn Dowling standing over a two-point free that would determine the destiny of both teams.

Dowling had been instrumental as Suncroft proved last week’s draw was no fluke, the rank outsiders going in at half-time here a point ahead (1-5 to 0-7) thanks in the main to a well-finished Eoin Magee goal having played against a strong and tricky wind blowing diagonally down towards the scoreboard in the Kilcullen End.

Suncroft extended their lead by a Hugh Martin point in a dominant start to the second half, and it was beginning to look like one of the greatest stories the club game in Kildare has produced for many a year would have its romantic ending.

But O’Shea’s goal ten minutes into the half pushed Milltown into the lead and atoned for the black card he’d picked up for a trip on Eoghan Lawless in the 16th minute. Dowling responded with a mighty two-pointer, but Donoghue palmed home the second goal four minutes after O’Shea’s when reacting quickest to Kevin Byrne’s shot dropping short.

Milltown led from there to the end and when Conor Sheerin’s free put them three clear four minutes from the end of normal time, the game seemed to be up for Suncroft.

Bravely, and typically, they battled back. Martin and then Dowling earned frees, both of which the latter converted, and we were back to a one-point game.

Then, four minutes into injury time, captain Chris Phillips was fouled just outside the arc and there was no one Suncroft would have preferred standing over the ball than Dowling, with eight points to his name already. It was almost an identical situation to the previous week, when he brought the game to a replay with the last kick.

But there was one major difference. This time he had the tricky wind to contend with. With Donoghue imploring the Milltown crowd to raise a distracting din, a request they eagerly complied with, Dowling started his free out to the right to compensate for the wind, but unfortunately, it didn’t come back in and the Hugh Campion Trophy, named after their own clubman, slipped out of Suncroft’s grasp.

Earlier, Alan Dignam had opened the scoring with a booming two-pointer inside forty seconds but Suncroft’s immediate response, a Magee finish from a driving run through the centre by Lawless, signalled their intent. Martin added a point when Milltown gave up the resultant kick-out.

Suncroft wouldn’t score for another twenty minutes as a physically demanding battle ensued. Sheerin (free) and Ben Curran brought Milltown level by the 14th minute before ‘keeper Omar Dunne rescued his side when getting to Martin’s pass across goal before Darragh Malone could get a touch.

During O’Shea’s sin-binning, Dowling edged Suncroft ahead with a free before man-of-the-match Kevin Byrne hit a wonderful two-pointer on 23 minutes. Just as O’Shea was readying himself to return to the fray Dowling squeezed over a point off the inside of the post from play and he followed that up with a two-point free with his left foot from an identical position to the previous week’s equaliser.

Dignam responded with a close-range point to leave his side trailing by one at the interval, but Suncroft dominated possession at the start of the second half and Martin’s point was perhaps a disappointing return in that spell.

Dowling, having another inspirational performance for Suncroft, put his body on the line to deny Donoghue a goal in Milltown’s only shot of the opening ten minutes of the second half but when Ronan O’Shea set up brother Colin, he side-stepped neatly to finish emphatically. Donoghue’s finish four minutes later left Suncroft with an uphill battle that they fought manfully but it was the Milltown men who prevailed to book a return to the senior grade for the first time since the early seventies, adding to the Junior title they won three years ago.

There’s little time for celebration, though, with a trip to Longford to play Mostrim in the Leinster Championship looming large next Saturday afternoon.

MILLTOWN: Omar Dunne; Jamie Cross, Cian Buckley, Seán Murphy; Kevin Byrne 0-2 (tp), Colin O’Shea 1-0, Liam Kelly; Joe Dunne, Conor Sheerin 0-2 (2fs); Ben Curran 0-2, Alan Dignam 0-3 (1tp), Hugh Hamilton; Paddy Donoghue 1-1, Ronan O’Shea, Niall Finnegan. Subs: Shane Daly for Hamilton 28, Ben Heuston for Finnegan 43.

SUNCROFT: Ciaran Troy; Jack Setright, Danny Morgan, Harry Dillon; Mikey Troy, Chris Phillips, Conor Kiely; Tom Martin, Fionn Dowling 0-8 (1tp,1tpf,3fs); Eoghan Lawless, Sennan Brannock, Eoin Magee 1-2; Darragh Malone, Conn Kehoe, Hugh Martin 0-2. Subs: Seán Troy for Mikey Troy (temp 21-24), Arthur Bailey for Setright 45, Adam Talbot for Brannock 51, Mark Brown for Tom Martin 52, Seán Troy for Mikey Troy 59, Sam Murphy for Malone 59.

REFEREE: Damien Whelan.