TONY McNamee came off the bench as Milford overcame St Naul’s to maintain their unbeaten start to Division 2.
Milford 0-14 St Naul’s 0-12
By Charlie Collins at Moyle View Park
McNamee, whose departure from Finn Harps was confirmed this evening, scored a point and played a part as Milford took another win.
The visitors had the worst possible start as midfielder Stuart Johnston picked up two yellow cards in quick succession inside the opening five minutes.
Ryan Coughlan had denied Milford’s Matthew McLaughlin a goal opportunity in the first minute with a brilliant last ditch tackle and shortly after that an incident occured involving players from both teams, which resulted in a yellow card for Johnston.
The aggro continued in the next few minutes with mostly pushing and shoving between players but in the fifth minute Johnston foolishly again drew the attention of referee Connie Doherty, the result was a second yellow card followed by a red and his team were down to fourteen men with only five minutes gone.
Their response was excellent as every player lifted their effort for the remainder of this game and it took two injury-time scores to beat them.
The 14 men took a two point lead, Stephen Griffen and Brian McGroary converting from play. Milford finally got going and the excellent Christopher Barrett kicked three points and Ronan Docherty added another.
But back came St.Nauls, McGroary added a second point and Shane Conneely levelled it up again at four points apiece.
The teams shared four more points before half-time, Kane Barrett and Christopher Barrett’s fourth for Milford while Stephen Griffin added two for the visitors to leave them level 0-6 apiece at the break.
Four points were again shared in the opening ten minutes of the second-half, Darragh Black and Christopher Barrett’s fifth for Milford and frees from Gavin Mulreany and Griffin for Nauls.
The action flowed up and down the pitch with St.Naul’s 14 men giving it everything they had.
Two Kane Barrett points edged the home team ahead yet again but Griffin replied.
Sub Conor McHugh added Milford’s 11th point only for Nauls sub Danny McDyer to respond.
Another sub, Cathal Lowther, converted a mark from an acute angle to level it yet again in the 58th minut.
McNamee edged the home team ahead, but only for a minute as Griffin lobbed over his sixth point in the 60th minute. St.Nauls enjoyed a long period of injury-time possession but despite working the ball well they just couldn’t convert as Milford defended with 13 men behind the ball.
And it was the home team who clinched it as the clock ran down. McNamee played a super long pass into Darragh Black and he turned away brilliant from his marker to curl the ball over the bar. Milford lost Kane Barrett (dissent) and Black (foul) to black cards to finish with 13 players but the had the final say on the scoresheet as McNamee found Cathal McGettigan, who gave Milford a two point victory with a well taken score
Milford: Shaun Gallagher; Conor Coll, James Doyle, Shay Durning; Patrick Ferry, TJ Evesson, Eoin O’Donnell; Ryan McMahon, Ronan Docherty (0- 1); Matthew McLaughlin, Christopher Barrett (0-5, 1f), Cathal McGettigan (0-1); Darragh Black (0- 2), Kane Barrett (0-3, 2f), Gavin Grier. Subs: Dylan Dorrian for Durnin (29), Tony McNamee (0-1), for McLaughlin (half-time), Conor McHugh (0-1) for Ferry (35), Pauric Curley for McMahon (48)
St Naul’s: Gavin Mulreaney (0-1); Ryan Coughlan, Barry Griffin, Dermot Gallagher; Michael Coughlan, Ian Campbell, Kyle Campbell; Stuart Johnston, Stephen Griffin (0-6, 5f); Joe Campbell, Thomas White, Martin Breslin; Brian McGroary (0-2), Daniel Meehan, Shane Conneely 0-1). Subs: Danny McDyer (0-1) for Meehan (half-time), Cathal Lowther (0-1), for J.Campbell (44).
Referee: Connie Doherty (Naomh Conaill).
Tags: