'Goals Galore as Milltown/Castlemaine Push for Promotion'
County Senior Football League
Division 3B, Round 5
Milltown/Castlemaine 8-15 Duagh 0-07
Venue: Paddy Burke Memorial Park, Milltown
Referee: Michael Moriarty (Dingle)
Report By Dara O'Connor
Milltown/Castlemaine welcomed North Kerry side Duagh to the Paddy Burke Memorial Park, Milltown on Sunday afternoon for Round 5 of the County Senior Football League. The home side knew a win was imperative to either finish top of the group or more likely secure a promotion playoff by finishing 2nd. Brosna travelled to J P O'Sullivan Park, Killorglin today in the other game with real significance at the summit of the league and all teams were no doubt keeping a close eye on both contests score updates to know what they exactly had to do as the afternoon progressed.
There were a number of changes on the home side before throw-in. Out went Anthony Kelliher, Craig Counihan and Jerome Flynn and in came Kieran O'Carroll, John Dennehy and Cillian Burke. Other absentees included amongst others Jonathan O'Sullivan, Gavin McKenna and Gavin Horan so there was plenty of opportunities for others to come in and stake their own claim.
Milltown/Castlemaine aided by a strong breeze were evidently very hungry today and this showed in their overall dominance which left Duagh playing second fiddle all through the contest.
Midfielder Donal Dennehy opened the home sides account early doors off his left from 21 metres after a Dylan O'Neil layoff and this was quickly added to with well taken scores from debutant Cillian Burke and Cathal Moriarty to make it 0-3 to 0-0 by the 6th minute.
Duagh were really struggling to contain the Milltown/Castlemaine attack and Cathal Moriarty knocked over his second of the day on the turn before showcasing all his silky skills in raising the games first green flag in the 10th minute. Wing-Back, Kieran O'Carroll (always a great contributor in the scoring stakes each game) went for goal soon after after breaking through but his effort flew powerfully over the bar to leave it 1-5 to 0-0.
Moriarty (14 yard free), David Roche from 21 metres after a good run and full-back Pa Wren through a fisted effort extended the lead out to 1-8 to 0-0 by the 22nd minute. It was looking quite ominous for the visitors and alarm bells were well and truly ringing at this stage.
Cillian Burke with his second of the day from play and Cathal Moriarty (stretching his first half tally to 1-4) rounded off the home sides first half scoring to make it 1-10 to 0-00 approaching the half time interval. Duagh to their credit did finish the half the stronger and two points, one from a Jason Carmody free from an acute angle opening their account after 28 minutes and another right on the stroke of the break from wing-forward Donnacha Maher left the half-time score, Milltown/Castlemaine 1-10 Duagh 0-02.
If we were thinking that Milltown/Castlemaine might take their foot off the accelerator for the second half playing against the breeze too, we were sadly mistaken and this notion was quickly cast aside as two goals inside the opening minutes, both coming from rising star Cillian Burke after hard work in the build-up to both goals from Killian Kerins, David Roche, Dylan O'Neil and Cathal Moriarty, we now led 3-10 to 0-3 with a Duagh reply coming in the form of a pointed effort from midfielder Kieran Lucey.
Jason Carmody, Duagh's top scorer all afternoon playing at full-forward tagged on two points in a row (one from a long range free, the other from play on the 14 yard line) reduced the arrears to 3-10 to 0-5 by the 40th minute.
Dylan O'Neil stopped the momentum the away side were building up by tagging on a point in the 41st minute from close range.
From here on in, the green flag was raised on no fewer than five occasions which showed the home sides ruthless streak (there was also the possibility of topping the group and securing automatic promotion if Brosna defeated Laune Rangers and if that materialised, score difference would be a crucial factor).
Cathal Moriarty started the goalscoring spree in the 43rd minute after brilliant build-up play from Pa Wren and David Roche. He added a further goal moments later after a layoff from centre-forward David Roche to make it 5-11 to 0-06. In the 45th minute it was the turn of Dylan O'Neil to raise a green flag after Cillian Burke took on his man and laid it off to O'Neil who was rushing in at the back post and palmed it home. On the resumption following the water break which offered some bit of respite to the visitors the goal rush continued unabated as Moriarty landed two more after hard work from substitute Sean Hogan for the former and Moriarty himself created and finished expertly for the 8th goal of the afternoon (Moriarty's 5th), the score now stood at 8-11 to 0-06. As we headed for the home straight, Jason Carmody (free) and Dylan O'Neil exchanged scores at either end to leave it 8-12 to 0-07. The game slowly fizzled out from here and Milltown/Castlemaine were happy to shoot for points at this point, Cillian Burke rounding off an outstanding debut with a pointed effort after breaking free on goal, Cathal Moriarty bringing his tally to 5-5 for the day with a point and a beautifully stroked '45' from Dylan O'Neil was the score that brought a halt to proceedings with Milltown/Castlemaine winning emphatically on a score of 8-15 to 0-07.
A real highlight no doubt on the day would have been Milltown/Castlemaine's inside full forward line contributing 8-11 of the overall tally with 7 different scorers in total.
Laune Rangers defeated Brosna by two points at the same time so have secured automatic promotion to Division 2 next season by virtue of finishing 1st. Milltown/Castlemaine finished 2nd and will face into a Promotion Playoff with Churchill next weekend to decide who will join Laune Rangers and Listowel Emmetts in Division 2 next year. Fixture details for the playoff are to be finalised in the coming days.
Congratulations and well done to the players and management on a really convincing performance.
Milltown/Castlemaine Team and Scorers:
Cormac Leane, Ciaran O'Connor, Pa Wren (0-1), Stephen Roche, Kieran O'Carroll (0-1), Dwight Bacalso, Jeremiah Hayes, Donal Dennehy (0-1), Brendan Delaney, John Dennehy, David Roche (Capt, 0-1), Killian Kerins, Dylan O'Neil (1-3), Cillian Burke (2-3), Cathal Moriarty (5-5)
Subs Used:
Craig Counihan, Aaron O'Brien, Sean Hogan, Tadgh McCarthy
