Ballesty feels Milltown could have held on for victory
Milltown manager Pete Ballesty admitted that his side was "disappointed" not to win last Sunday's Westmeath intermediate football final against Garrycastle.
A drawn final generally leaves a feeling of mixed emotions, but Ballesty couldn't conceal his sense of disappointment after Milltown almost won their first ever intermediate title.
"I actually think we're a little bit disappointed. Lads are disappointed in there. We could have held on. Maybe a few decisions didn't go our way in the second half," he said.
"It was an awful day with terrible conditions for both teams. It was a good game under the conditions. Maybe at the end of the day, it probably was a fair result."
Having played with a very strong, swirling wind in the first half, Milltown led 1-4 to 0-5 at half-time. Two points by Ben McGauran shortly after the restart extended Milltown's lead to four, but they were unable to score for the remainder.
"We did get a couple of grand scores in the second half to settle us down but fair play to Garrycastle, they came back at us and we live to fight another day," said Ballesty, who is assisted by Sean Loughlin, James Gunning and Michael Connell.
In the immediate aftermath of last Sunday's final, it was not clear when the replay would take place as both clubs have players involved in county hurling finals this weekend.
"We have three lads in the dressing room that are involved with Fr Dalton's. I'd hate for them to be playing two county finals next weekend. It would be too much for them," he said.
With the Westmeath intermediate champions due to face their Carlow counterparts on Saturday, November 2, there isn't a lot of wriggle room. Ballesty was hopeful that some flexibility from the Leinster Council might be forthcoming if needed, but the replay has since been confirmed for next Monday (TEG Cusack Park, 2pm).
Ballesty hopes the experience of playing in the intermediate final will stand to the young players in the Milltown squad. "I knew these boys were going to be nervous. The young lads are flyers. I'm with them since they were under-8s, five or six of them, and they're great gasúns," he said.
Considering their senior pedigree, Garrycastle went into last Sunday's final as favourites in the eyes of many. But most observers felt Milltown were in with a real chance as the sides played out a draw (1-9 apiece) in the group stages.
"When we met earlier in Tang, it was a far better game of football. No matter what sort of footballers you have, they were just horrendous conditions to try and play football in today. In the intermediate competition, we've been the best two teams in it this year. They know it and we know it. They'll go home and scratch their heads and we'll go home and scratch ours and see where we can get better and, hopefully, pray to God, it is a better day (for the replay)," Ballesty added.