Goal-hungry Milltownpass advance to knockout stages

By Gerry Buckley

Milltownpass 6-11, Maryland 2-9

Milltownpass put their early championship wobbles behind them in emphatic fashion in The Downs last Saturday afternoon with an impressive win against Maryland, thereby copper-fastening a quarter-final slot in the race for the Peter Geraghty Cup.

Winning manager David Martin can now look forward to having a real go at winning a title which has eluded them in recent years, albeit they picked up a couple of injuries in their 14-point win against his home club whose hopes of an unlikely knockout place were well and truly dashed on what was a resplendent surface.

The men in white and black pounced for their first goal after just 35 seconds, Evan Gorman’s clever lineball teeing up Brandon Kelly who duly rounded Eoin Moran and scored a fine goal. A well-taken point by Keith Malynn and a trademark powerful finish to the net by Kieran Martin had Maryland ahead after seven minutes.

However, a better-balanced Milltownpass outfit scored 1-4 without reply between the ninth and 18th minutes. The goal was a great score from wing back Liam O’Reilly in the tenth minute, with the points coming from the boots of Kelly (a fly-kicked shot), Liam Gorman, Liam Brennan (a free), and Evan Gorman (after great work by Michael McCormack).

Good points from Donal Hogan and Callum McCormack (from long range) kept the blue and white-clad side in touch (2-4 to 1-3), but the winners added a rapid-fire 2-1 by the 24th minute. The goals came courtesy of O’Reilly (his second outstanding finish) and Shane Corcoran (after a superb catch by Sam Duncan), either side of a Kelly point at the end of a flowing move. The losers ended the first moiety with a great angled point by Ronan Aspell, but they still trailed by 4-5 to 1-4 at the interval.

A great solo point from Martin in the 33rd minute left the deficit at three clear goals. Two Milltownpass points followed via Brennan (a delightful free taken from the ground) and Evan Gorman (despite almost spilling possession). William Reynolds pointed at the other end before doing very well to set up McCormack for a great goal. The scoreboard at the end of the third quarter read: Milltownpass 4-7 Maryland 2-6.

Heavy rain arrived at this juncture. Kelly (at the end of a counterattack) and McCormack (a classy score) traded points, but Milltownpass ended any real hope of a dramatic comeback when Evan Gorman pounced for another 1-1 (the goal coming after terrific work by Kelly in the 52nd minute). A Martin free at the other end preceded a point apiece from Kelly and corner back Alan Farrell for Milltownpass.

Evan Gorman doubled his goal haul with aplomb in the 59th minute. Martin had the small consolation of rounding off match scoring with a marvellous point for Damien Reynolds’ troops. Moments later, when the final whistle sounded and the permutations were all worked out, it was the Milltownpass players and mentors who were joyously celebrating their progress to the quarter-finals.

Scorers – Milltownpass: E Gorman 2-3, B Kelly 1-4, L O’Reilly 2-0, S Corcoran 1-0, L Brennan 0-2 (2f), L Gorman, A Farrell 0-1 each.

Maryland: K Martin 1-3 (0-1f), C McCormack 1-2, K Malynn, D Hogan, R Aspell, W Reynolds 0-1 each.

Milltownpass: Ruiarí Coyne; Michael McCormack, Paul O’Reilly, Alan Farrell; Liam O’Reilly, Noel O’Reilly, David Manning; Gavin Glennon, Sam Duncan; Liam Gorman, Shane Corcoran, Tony Loftus; Brandon Kelly, Evan Gorman, Liam Brennan. Subs used: Niall Manning for P O’Reilly (inj., 7), Daragh O’Connor for D Manning (inj., h-t), Eoghan Gallagher for L Gorman (49), Shane Flanagan for Corcoran (51), Seamus Faulkner for Brennan (56).

Maryland: Eoin Moran; Conor Farrell, Darren Malynn, James Ganly; Liam Moran, Bryan O’Donoghue, Christy Hermbusche; Donal Hogan, Keith Malynn; Ronan Aspell, Callum McCormack, William Reynolds; Joe Harte, Kieran Martin, Cian Rainey. Subs used: Enda Kincaid for Rainey (h-t), Trevor Farrell for L Moran (55), Fintan McCormack for C Farrell (56), Kevin Seery for Aspell (58).

Ref: Pat Fox (Rosemount).

Examiner's Eye on the game

Man of the match

Brandon Kelly (Milltownpass). The livewire corner forward scored 1-4 from open play, and he also set up several other scores with clever distribution and unselfish running.

Key moment

Goals in the 21st and 24th minutes opened up a significant gap in the winners’ favour.

Next up

Milltownpass play Castledaly in the quarter-final next weekend.