Co Premier 2 Minor Football Championship
Eire Og 1-05 Millstreet 1-04
Two late points from Daniel O’Connor saw Eire Og advance to Round 3 after this Co Premier 2 Minor Football Championship opening round game against Millstreet which was played in Carrigadrohid on Wednesday (7th April) evening.
After a tentative opening by both sides Eire Og finally got off the mark when in the 6th minute Ronan Dennehy sent over a neat point. As both sides continued to miss chances Eire Og began to come more into the game and with Craig O’Driscoll, Killian Murphy, Sean O’Connor, Daniel O’Shea, Barry McDonagh and Daniel O’Connor leading by example chances began to fall their way. Although scores were still at a premium they kept pressing forward and were rewarded with a brace of pointed frees from O’Connor to put themselves three up by the 21st minute. Sensing the danger Millstreet with increased displays from Mark Desmond, Barry O’Reilly, Kevin Sheehan, Michael Vaughan and Kevin Crowley sat about to redress the balance and in the 25th minute they were on level terms after a ’45 taken by Michael Vaughan caused some confusion in the Eire Og defence and an alert Jamie Kelleher finished the ball to the net. They upped the tempo and it took a superb save from the Eire Og ‘keeper James Shields from Len Murphy, who also looked dangerous, to deny them a second but a point before the break from Kelleher gave them a slender 1-01 to 0-03 advantage at the short whistle.
Gaining in confidence Millstreet continued where they left off on the resumption and although scores were still hard to come by they extended their advantage in the 37th minute when Vaughan converted a placed ball and seven minute later they put a goal between the sides when Murphy sent over a well executed point. It was now Eire Og’s turn to respond and this they did in style when in the 20th minute a great pass from O’Connor found Dennehy and he made no mistake in finding the net for the equaliser. A point from Donough Tarrant edged Millstreet in front but Eire Og, with their goalkeeper James Shield now operating with some effect at full-forward, fought back and again had the sides on level terms when O’Connor kicked over his third from a placed ball and in a nail-biting finale the same player kicked over the winner to see his side advance by the bare minimum on the final scoreline of 1-05 to 1- 04 with Millstreet having to battle it out in Round 2.
Scorers: Eire Og Ronan Dennehy 1-01; Daniel O’Connor 0-04 (0-03 frees).
Millstreet Jamie Kelleher 1-01; Michael Vaughan 0-01 (free); Len Murphy 0-01; Donough Tarrant 0-01.
Teams: Eire Og James Shields; Denis O’Keeffe, Colm Murphy, Craig O’Driscoll; Killian Murphy, Sean O’Connor, Daniel O’Sullivan; Barry McDonough, Daniel O’Shea; Brian Kirwin, Aonghus McCarthy, Daniel O’Connor; Benny Coffey, Ronan Dennehy, Killian Twohig.
Subs: Jack McCarthy for Brian Kirwin, John McCarthy for Benny Coffey
Millstreet Sean Cotter; Eoin Daly, Andrew Crean, Mark Desmond; Kieran Fraser, Barry O’Reilly, Kevin Sheehan; Cormac Sheehan, Michael Vaughan; Kevin Crowley, Len Murphy, Barry O’Flynn; Donough Tarrant, Jamie Kelleher, Eric Hickey.
Sub: Adrian Sheehan for Barry O’Flynn
Referee: Eamon Sheehy (Newcestown)
