'I love this club so much' - Milltown IFC final hero Colin O'Shea

My emotions are the moment are all over the shop said Milltown centre back Colin O’Shea after the presentation of the Hugh Campion Cup, “I was full sure Fionn (Dowling) was going to kick that last free over” he said, adding “we pushed on there in the third quarter, went three points up I thought we might push on but Suncroft, God they are the most dogged team we played all year, they just dragged themselves back into it and to be honest I am still trying to get my head around it, to be honest I was praying when Fionn was kicking that free, so somebody was listening" he laughs.

Colin lives in Kerry for over year, married to a Kerry lady and makes the journey for training some twice a week for training but he says “I am very lucky a couple of clubs down there (Kerry) let me train with them, and you know you are going training down there and you are treating every session like a championship match, coming from Kildare you don’t want the Kerry lads thinking ‘who is this lad coming from Kildare’ it has been different but I love this club so much, not just the players, the people involved, so many good people involved and I would do anything to help the boys, help the club out, we are all getting the praise but so many great people, such as Ena Murphy, is nominated for the Pride of the Parish award being run by the Leinster Leader, she washes the jerseys, makes sambos, always doing something for the club and there are so many more in the club, everyone in the village deserves this day, this has been a long time coming” says a delighted Colin.

Alan Dignam

“It just started to hit me when we were climbing up the steps for the presentation of the Cup.”

The words of centre-forward Alan Dignam, who hit a brilliant two-pointer inside the opening minute of the start and added a single in the first half.

“Delighted, a lot of lads have put in some serious work and it is just brilliant it has paid off for us.”

Two tough games?

The Milltown man admitted that both games could have gone either way. “Suncroft get themselves right every single season for the championship; they get at you; get in your face, a credit to their community.”

With the Leinster club just a week ago, the man who wore the no. 11 shirt when told his manager John Donnelly said he would let them enjoy the night said “one night maybe, maybe get to Day 2 but seriously three years when we won the junior we decided as a team to make a run at the Leinster and we did and we will do exactly the same this time and see how it goes.”

Milltown manager John Donnelly

“It was a battle again and I suppose we didn’t expect anything else from Suncroft, in the way they approached it last week and again today, Tommy Cleary (Suncroft manager) has done a savage job with them and his team is a credit to him, they died on their feet, I would have put any money on Fionn (Dowling) putting over that last free but that is the way these things go and absolutely delighted to get over the line.”

The manager said that after all the rain and bad weather recently “the pitch was in good order but these are two good footballing teams; you can blame pitches, it is all about the footballers and trying to do the right things.”

John said that at half-time he felt “we were doing a lot of right stuff, bar a couple of bad mistakes, we started well and then the goal we conceded was a bad hit, look we knew it was always going to be a battle” adding “the lads were very down in the dressing room last week, they felt they let themselves down, they had a chat amongst themselves and said they were really focussing on the replay and hopefully get it right which thankfully they did.”

The manager heaped praise on his team.

“The lads won Leinster Junior and since we came in, myself and John Joyce last year, we have a great time with the lads, a great bunch of players and I know Cian Buckley mentioned in his speech mentioned Colin O’Shea and what that man is doing (now living in Kerry for a year) he is a machine, a great man and his goal was badly wanted at that stage and maybe put a bit of doubt in their (Suncroft) head at the same time.”

A quick turn-around with the Leinster Club next weekend the manager said “we will celebrate tonight and we might push into tomorrow but we will back training on Tuesday and knowing the lads as I do they will want to refocus, enjoy tonight and tomorrow and then go again.”

John admitted they have a fair bit of experience in their side after that success three years ago. “We have experience, Alan (Dignam) was in goals back then; a couple of young lads as well, Niall Finnegan started today, Ben Heuston had been starting there but Niall did well but this is a great little club and they thoroughly deserved what they have achieved.”