McKenna goal key as Milltown topple Kilbride in Leinster Championships

Milltown 1-11

Kilbride 1-7

Milltown have booked their place in the Leinster Club Junior Football Championship semi-finals stage with a win over Kilbride from Meath. The Kildare Junior Champions will face Kilbeggan Shamrocks next time out.

The sides went in at half-time drawn level at 0-6 a piece. There were goal chances aplenty and Milltown would have been the more regretful of the two teams in terms of missed opportunities.

Regardless of their shooting accuracy issues, the Kildare Junior Champs came out strong once more in the second half.

Milltown moved the ball well as they sought to carve an opening when centre-back Colin O’Shea made a burst through the middle. O’Shea, who had been quiet to that point, earned himself space with a quick acceleration and popped the ball over the bar excellently.

Just two minutes later, Milltown had another when Kevin Byrne found Declan McKenna in space out wide. McKenna had plenty to do, facing away from goal and closer to the touchline than the posts. But he did it expertly as he turned sharply to squeeze his effort between the sticks, leaving the game 0-8 to 0-6 after 34 minutes.

After the all-action play following the restart from the Kildare side, there would not be another score for some 13 minutes. Kilbride had got a foothold in this game though and threatened Alan Dignam’s goal on a few occasions. Antony Barker had a perfect green flag chance for the trailing Meath side but flashed his effort across goal.

Kilbride would get their goal on 47 minutes as they worked the ball quickly into the full-forward line. It was far from pretty as the teams scrambled for possession in and around the Milltown box, but Zack McGovern got enough on his effort to find the net as he bobbled the ball into the bottom left-hand corner to give his side the lead at 1-6 to 0-8.

Milltown would respond in exceptional style. Just a minute later, they were level as Conor Sheerin boomed over a wonderful long-range score that began a two-minute Milltown onslaught.

Another 60 seconds further on and they had their lead back as Hugh Hamilton broke free from his marker and knocked over a fine score.

The biggest moment of the game so far would come from the resulting kick-out as Kilbride goalkeeper Craig Manning got the restart all wrong. Manning’s chip out from the back fell into the welcome arms of Declan McKenna, who was the calmest man on the pitch as the biggest chance of the game arrived on his lap.

McKenna took his time and coolly lobbed the Kilbride ‘keeper to give his side a four-point lead just a couple of minutes after being behind. Milltown led 1-10 to 1-6 after a surge on the scoreboard that looked certain to win them this game.

Kilbride would narrow the gap through substitute Josh Harford just four minutes from the end of regular time. Harford’s point reduced their trailing margin to three and brought with it a noticeable change in Kilbride tactics as they began to take a more direct approach to goal.

Long balls were sent at Milltown in many forms, lofted, driven and lumped, but they were all dealt with superbly by the leading side. They held strong and finished a strong defensive display with a crucial flourish.

Milltown would end this game on the counter-attack as Karl Heuston broke free at the other end. Heuston undoubtedly had a goal chance in front of him but did the sensible thing and put the ball over the bar to seal this game and secure his side’s place in the semi-final stage.

Scorers: Milltown, Declan McKenna 1-2, Hugh Hamilton 0-3, Patrick Donohoe 0-2 (0-2 frees), Karl Heuston 0-1, Ben Curran 0-1, Colin O'Shea 0-1, Conor Sheerin 0-1.

Kilbride, Zack McGovern 1-2, David O'Leary 0-2 (0-1 frees), Timmy Farrell 0-1, Conor McWeeney 0-1, Josh Harford 0-1 (0-1 frees).

MILLTOWN: Alan Dignam; Jamie Cross, Cian Buckley, Sean Murphy; Aaron Jacob, Colin O'Shea, Shane Daly; Kevin Byrne, Conor Sheerin; Calum Murphy, Hugh Hamilton, Ben Curran; Declan McKenna, Ronan O'Shea, Patrick Donohoe. Subs: Karl Heuston for Calum Murphy (Half-time).

KILBRIDE: Craig Manning; Mark Dempsey, Daniel Boyd, Paddy Peters; Andy McWeeney, Conor O'Driscoll, Finn White; Cathal McKeon, Timmy Farrell; Conor McWeeney, Anthony Barker, Ronan O'Leary; Adam Malone, Zack McGovern, David O'Leary. Subs: Josh Harford for Adam Malone (39 minutes), Cian Harford for Anthony Barker (42 minutes), Cadhla McKenna for Ronan O'Leary (44 minutes), James Browne for Cian Harford (53 minutes).

Referee: Stephen Johnson (Louth)

MAIN MAN

Declan Mckenna

Milltown's corner-forward created a couple of moments of magic in this incredibly tight game. None more so than his crucial goal on 49 minutes. McKenna was given the goal opportunity as a gift from a poor Craig Manning but kick-out, but the Milltown forward had the coolness and quality to take the huge chance as he superbly lobbed the stranded 'keeper.

TURNING POINT

After being in the ascendancy for a lot of this quarter-final, Milltown actually kicked into gear at the concession of a goal, Kilbride finding the net seemed to ignite the Kildare JFC Champions.

TALKING POINT

How far can Milltown go? They looked strong in this tie and will only take even more confidence from both their performance and response to a setback at a key point in this game.

WHAT NOW?

Milltown can look ahead to a Leinster Club Junior Football Championship semi-final against Kilbeggan Shamrocks.