Unbeaten Milltown finish top of Group C
Milltown had to pull out all the stops before eventually overcoming Nurney in Round 3 of the National Electrical Wholesalers Kildare Intermediate Football Championship on Sunday afternoon.
Milltown were never allowed to get into their normal rhythm in this Group C encounter, but all credit has to go to Nurney, who, not for the first time, belied their underdog role to push Milltown all the way. It took late two-pointers from Alan Dignam and Kevin Byrne to finally get Milltown over the line as they advance to the quarter-finals as Group C winners.
Conor Sheerin did give Milltown the perfect start with a point inside 40 seconds, but points from Theo Hanlon and Tadhg Hagney had Nurney in front with five minutes on the clock. Milltown were struggling early on to break the midfield of the Hagneys Cathal and Tadhg, but against the run of play ten minutes in, Colin O'Shea played in Paddy Donoghue who was brought and after composing himself he slotted home the penalty.
Conor Sheerin then converted a long range two-point free after Joe Dunne was taken down and Milltown were four up.
A Mikey Conway free was fumbled by Hugh Hamilton at the expense of a 45 that Theo Hanlon converted with ease. Although Alan Dignam restored the four-point buffer it would be Nurney who took control on the scoreboard as we moved into quarter two.
The Hagneys, Tadhg and Cathal, pointed either side of a brilliant orange flag from Theo Hanlon and again the sides were level.
With four minutes of injury time to the break, Nurney hit the front; Mikey Conway was played into possession out wide and his trusty left foot drove the two-pointer. Damien Berns and O'Shea traded late points, but Nurney lead 0-10 to 1-5.
You expected a Milltown response on the change of ends and Hugh Hamilton gave them the perfect start with a two-pointer, the fourth of the game.
The next six minutes were end to end and score for score. Mikey Conway converted a simple free before Ben Curran got space to level it again. Conway was never to far from the action and a foul on Andrew Behan allowed Mikey to add another two-pointer and edge Nurney ahead.
Milltown are one of the favourites for overall honours and they did show a glimpse of their talents on 42; Cian Buckley found Ronan O'Shea and with a swift past he played in Ben Curran for goal number two - a contender for goal of the weekend.
Theo Hanlon was causing problems and he played in Owen Kealey for another leveller.
The closing 11 minutes belonged to Milltown as they outscored Nurney by eight points to one. Two orange flags from Alan Dignam and a third from the raiding half back Kevin Byrne were quickly followed by singles from Dignam and Ben Curran.
As the Nurney legs started to tire they were very unlucky to lose Ciaran Callan to a straight red when yellow would have been sufficient. Cathal Hagney hit a late consolation but Milltown did enough for the win.
Milltown won't want to be as slack as they face into the quarter finals if they are to back up their favourites tag. Nurney should have enough strength in depth to avoid a relegation battle as they head into the 'B' Championship.
Omar Dunne; Jamie Cross, Cian Buckley, Sean Murphy; Kevin Byrne 0-2 (tp), Colin O'Shea, Liam Kelly; Joe Dunne, Conor Sheerin 0-4 (1tpf); Ben Curran 1-2, Alan Dignam 0-6 (1tp, 1tpf), Hugh Hamilton 0-2 (2pt); Paddy Donoghue 1-0 (pen), Ronan O'Shea, Ben Heuston.
Aaron Jacob for Heuston and Niall Finnegan for Cross (45).
Eoghan Fitzpatrick; Noel Lawlor, Daragh Conway, Neil Kelly; Steven Conway, Brian Reilly, Kevin Conway; Tadhg Hagney 0-2, Cathal Hagney 0-2; Ciaran Callan, Mikey Conway 0-5 (1tpf, 1tp, 1f), Jessie Moore; Damien Berns 0-1, Theo Hanlon 0-4 (1tpf, 1'45), Andrew Behan.
Owen Kealey 0-1 for Lawlor (28), Sean Murphy for K Conway (48), Daniel Kealey for Berns (58), Glen Higginbotham for Moore (59).
Eamonn Kelly.
