| Ballykelly 0-15 Milltown 2-6 |
Report:
Ballykelly 0-15 Milltown 2-6 Ballykelly recovered from the concession of an early goal and had too much in hand for another late one to matter as they got their championship campaign under way in positive style. However, they will not be happy with the manner in which either of the goals was given away and will need to be more vigilant if they are to contend for honours later in the year. Apart from that though, their workrate with and without the ball will have pleased management, as will the fact that they kicked 15 points, some of them right out of the top drawer. There were 10 wides too and there could be no denying their superiority at the final whistle. Milltown were fancied in some quarters to win this and inspired by Myles O’Reilly, looked to blow their opponents out of the water early on. Eoghan O’Toole and Emmet Mulhall dominated midfield in the opening quarter and with Colin O’Shea bombing forward at every opportunity from left half-back, the 2008 junior champions led by 1-2 to 0-0 after 10 minutes. O’Reilly had converted an early free by the time he slammed the ball to the Ballykelly net in the eighth minute, having worked the ball in from the right flank via some excellent link-up play by Michael Colleton. When Owen Moore was quickest to react to a ball hitting the upright, he made no mistake with a fine kick over his shoulder and men with the red sash were in total command. David Moore finally got Ballykelly off the mark after an astute cross-field pass by John Fitzgerald and when the excellent Derek McCormack slotted a free soon after, the Maroons were back in business. Three former Kildare men - McCormack, Daryl Cullen and Fitzgerald - began to see more of the possession as Ger Byrne took control at centre-back, ably supported by his wing-men, Damon Howard and Ronan Stafford. And although O’Reilly added two points, the second as he ran unchallenged for 25m before popping over, the sides were level at the break, 0-7 to 1-4. McCormack and Cullen shared Ballykelly’s last five points from play, with Cullen’s first score coming at the end of a six-man move after some aggressive tackling had won possession at the other end of the field. McCormack grazed the crossbar with a thunderbolt for one of his scores as Ballykelly looked to press home their advantage. O’Reilly restored Milltown’s lead after the break with a free but when he repeated the trick, it was to bring about parity after influential sub Andrew Kelly had arrowed over from a placed ball and McCormack had swooped on Fitzgerald’s block on Seán Trant to raise a white flag. By now Milltown were beginning to wilt and Ballykelly flourished in the resultant space. McCormack brought his tally to six with his fifth point from play while Fitzgerald arced one over brilliantly from a tight angle on the right. Kelly added his second, while the effective target man Fitzgerald set up Willie Nicholls for a deserved score; with Cullen and Alan Hickey supplementing points, the winners were cruising, six clear. Milltown redoubled their efforts as time ran out and on the hour, a long ball in was touched to an empty net by Owen Moore. There was little time for them to mount another attack though and it was Ballykelly who left with the spoils. Ballykelly: Trevor Holligan; Andy Buckley, Liam Behan, Chris Merlahan; Damon Howard, Ger Byrne, Ronan Stafford; Alan Hickey 0-1, Dean Dempsey; Mikey Behan, Derek McCormack 0-6(5fs), Daryl Cullen 0-3(1f); Davy Moore 0-1, John Fitzgerald 0-1, Willie Nicholls 0-1. Sub: Andrew Kelly 0-2 (1f) for Michael Behan (20) Milltown: Sean Trant; Paddy Keogh, Rory Donoghue, Eoin Dowling; Eddie Owens, Darren O’Shea, Colin O’Shea; Eoghan O’Toole, Emmet Mulhall; Kevin Dowling, Jason Dunne, Myles O’Reilly 1-5 (0-4fs); Michael Colleton, Owen Moore 1-1, Vincent Murray. Subs: Ray Coleman for Jason Dunne (ht); Omar Dunne for Kevin Dowling (45); Ian Fitzgerald for Darren O’Shea (45) Referee: Des Coyle
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