O'Shea's strike books Milltown a final spot

Tom Cross JFC semi-final

Milltown 0-10

Grangenolvin 1-6

Milltown’s Colin O’Shea powered his way up into the half forward line and despatched a superb strike between the posts with two minutes remaining to effectively clinch his side's further passage to this season’s Tom Cross Transport Junior Football Championship Final.

Played in wet and windy conditions at Conneff Park, Clane on Sunday evening, this penultimate round match-up saw Grangenolvin make the early running, as they raced 1-2 to 0-0 in front over the course of the opening 12 minutes.

Tomas Cullen found the back of the net just three minutes in after he broke on to Fionn Bergin's pass before steering it low and to the left of Milltown goalkeeper, Alan Dignam.

Conall Bergin added to that when he superbly fielded a free before shaking off some heat from the Milltown defence to fist the ball over the bar.

Milltown did almost find the net themselves just two minutes beforehand when Shane Daly very nearly saw Declan McKenna’s teasing ball across the goalmouth over the line, but he failed to make the necessary connection.

Some excellent work down the other end of the pitch by Bergin set Wayne Dooley up for a well-taken point that pushed Grangenolvin’s advantage out to five.

Milltown did open their account almost a quarter of an hour in when Conor Sheerin converted a free, awarded after Ronan O’Shea had been dragged to the floor.

The Milltown midfielder was on target again from the placed ball only to see Bergin respond with his second point of the game 20 minutes in.

Yet, three unanswered scores by O’Shea, Sheerin and Kevin Byrne meant that only a point separated the sides at the halftime recess.

And that narrow advantage was wiped out 20 seconds after the break compliments of Ben Curran who struck over a second time to edge Milltown in front for the first time in the match on 38 minutes.

Byrne appeared poised to add a goal to that early second-half revival by Milltown as he bore down on goal only for Lewis Gannon to make a superb block.

Two excellent points from Daniel Cullen swung the tie back in Grangenolvin’s favour, but that narrow lead was rubbed out yet again when Patrick Donohue landed a brilliant free.

And when McKenna called the mark to afford himself the opportunity to strike over with the aid of the crossbar, it was Milltown who were back in the driving seat with 10 minutes to go.

Parity was restored once more when Bergin converted a free before seeing another effort crucially cannon back off the upright as Grangenolvin threatened to pinch victory with three minutes remaining.

Instead, it was Milltown who served up the winning score courtesy of O’Shea who powered his way forward and unloaded his strike with conviction to see it soar between the posts.

“We got the worst possible start, conceding a goal, but the lads worked hard” said Milltown manager, Darren O’Shea after his side’s thrilling victory.

“We still left ourselves a point down at halftime, but we rallied well at the start of the second half.

“It looked like we were in bother there with two or three minutes to go, but they really ground it out and we got two cracking points there at the end from Colin (O’Shea) and Declan (McKenna).

MILLTOWN: Alan Dignam, Jamie Cross, Cian Buckley, Hugh Hamilton, Sean Murphy, Colin O’Shea (0-1), Shane Daly, Kevin Byrne (0-1), Conor Sheerin (0-3), Aaron Jacob, Karl Heuston, Ben Curran (0-2), Declan McKenna (0-1), Ronan O’Shea (0-1), Patrick Donohoe (0-1). Subs: Aaron Walker for Heuston (35 mins).

GRANGENOLVIN: Timmy Doyle, Ross Dooley, Lewis Gannon, Paul Huntington, Brian Cullen, Keith Holligan, Gavin Ivory, Cillian Bergin, Oran Bergin, Keith McGloin, Fionn Bergin (0-1), Daniel Cullen (0- 2), Tomas Cullen (1-0), Wayne Dooley (0-1), Conall Bergin (0-2). Subs: : Tommy Nolan for Holligan (39 mins) and Dylan Costigan for McGloin (56 mins).

Referee: Alan Lagrue