Milltown manager Darren O'Shea hails his men after a “war of attrition” in Leinster final

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but it sounds great when you say it (Leinster Junior champions). It was a game of two halves, first half, no disrespect to Glyde, but we could have been nearly home and hosed, but they stayed in it. The second half, we got the first score, we missed a chance and then went down to 14 very early. Then it is just a war of attrition and every man worked his absolute socks off,” the words of Milltown manager Darren O’Shea, pictured right, following his side’s Leinster Junior Championship final win over Glyde Rangers.

The blow of being down 14 men was somewhat lessened by the capabilities of Milltown goalkeeper Alan Dignam, who joined his teammates out the field to make up the numbers when in possession. The extra body and a capable one ultimately allowed Milltown to maintain their control of this game.

The Milltown boss was full of praise for his number one after the game, he said, “Everyone in Milltown hopes Alan’s future is out the field, he’s just carrying a couple of niggles this year and from the back end of last year. For us as a management team and a team in general, (he is) so comfortable on the ball, playing around with it and when team’s don’t know who you are they might say ‘let the ‘keeper have the ball’, but it's the wrong man to let have the ball.”

When recapping the success of 2023, Darren O'Shea was sure to mention every competition that his team and his home club had come out on top in this year.

“We won the Dowling Cup as well, which was named after a Milltown man so that was the starting point,” O’Shea smiled.

“But that loss in Kildare (championship) was probably the best thing that happened to us, we wouldn’t say it out loud too often. We were going too many games sneaking it, nothing major wrong, but you are still winning games. That loss to Rathcoffey woke us up and we kicked on again from that.”

The Milltown manager was unsurprisingly questioned on perhaps his side’s standout player of 2023 in the form of midfielder Kevin Byrne and about his tackle that stopped a Glyde goal chance to win this game dead in its tracks.

“Kevin’s a workhorse, he can do both side’s of it, he has come up with big hits all throughout the year. I actually see him more as a defender than a forward so that tackle doesn’t surprise me in the least,” O’Shea said.

Man of the match in the Leinster and county final and in games between, Byrne has been integral to all of Milltown’s success this year. Big hits at the back, but Byrne has also come up with huge goals in this year’s Kildare and Leinster Championships for Milltown, a true testament to his abilities as a complete midfielder.

O'Shea concluded with a word on having his brother's in this Milltown team, “In games like that, when the shoulders to the wheel, you know they'll pull with you.”