IFC GROUP C: Milltown off the mark and newcomers Grange turn over Nurney

Milltown 3-16 Ballyteague 1-12

Reporter: Tommy Callaghan

In the end there was ten points separating Milltown and Ballyteague and while the winners will be happy to record a win in the opening round of the National Electrical Wholesalers IFC, they will be aware there is lots of room for improvement.

On a beautiful evening at Cedral St Conleth’s Park, Newbridge, the pitch was in absolute immaculate condition it was Milltown who dominated the early possession Hugh Hamilton opened the scoring.

Ballyteague settled down and leveled up with Brian McGrath combining with Glen Thorpe who leveled up.

Liam Kelly added a point and when Colin O’Shea linked up with Ben Curran, the boys from the edge of Newbridge led 0-3 to 0-1.

The Larks, through Stephen Ennis raised a white flag and just a minute later they hit the front.

Jimmy Hyland cut in from the left, and made no mistake from close range to blast past Omar Dunne and take the lead 1-2 to 0-3.

Conor Sheerin reduced the lead with a fine point, a great block by Glen Thorpe denied Milltown, before Ben Heuston split the posts, then following a turn-over Milltown attacked but were thwarted when Paraic Hanley made a great clearance on his own goal line.

Conor Sheerin, free, regained the lead for Milltown but a brilliant two-pointer free from ‘Hopper’ McGrath had The Larks back in front.

Milltown leveled up through the impressive Ben Curran and then just before the break a run by Liam Kelly, saw the no. 7 fire to the back of James Walsh goal, Hugh Hamilton added a point as the half-time whistle arrived with the score board reading Milltown 1-9 Ballyteague 1-4.

From the re-start Ben Curran popped over a point after an Alan Dignam effort came off the upright.

Glen Thorpe reduced the lead and two minutes later Cian Loughlin added another point to leave four between the sides.

Conor Sheerin was denied when his effort came off the upright but Ben Heuston was on hand to fire over.

A foul on Jimmy Hyland saw him fire over the resultant free and a minute later an excellent move involving Liam Kelly, Joe Dunne, Patrick Donohue and Jimmy Hyland saw Hyland hit the point of the game, a brilliant effort from a very acute angle.

That was on 41 minutes it left a mere three points separating the sides.

However, that seemed to be a bit of a wake-up call for John Donnelly’s side as a long ball in from Joe Dunne was punched clear but Patrick Donohue picked it up and fired to the net.

The same players added a point, Ben Curran another two and an Alan Dignam free saw the score read 2-15 to 1-8 and the game effectively over.

Jimmy Hyland replied with two points inside a minute; Alan Dignam replied and while Milltown hit two more points from a Jimmy Hyland free and one from play from Stephen Ennis, right at the death Hugh Hamilton was put through on a one-to-one against James Walsh, the wing-back making no mistake to leave the final score reading Milltown 3-16 Ballyteague 1-12.

It’s all about winning when it comes to the opening championship game and Milltown will be happy to get this one under their belts; Milltown did well and with Hyland in top form can look forward with confidence.

Scorers, Ballyteague: Hugh Hamilton 1-2, Patrick Donohue 1-1, Liam Kelly 1-1, Ben Curran 0-4, Conor Sheerin 0-2 (2 frees), Alan Dignam 0-3 (1 free), Ben Heuston 0-2, Colin O’Shea 0-1.

Milltown: Jimmy Hyland 1-5 (2 frees), , Brian McGrath 0-2 (two pointer free), Stephen Ennis 0-2, Glen Thorpe 0-2,Cian Loughlin 0-1.

MILLTOWN: Omar Dunne; Jamie Cross, Kevin Byrne, Cian Buckley; Hugh Hamilton, Colin O’Shea, Liam Kelly; Conor Sheerin, Joe Dunne; Ben Curran, Alan Dignam, Patrick Donohue; Calum Murphy, Ronan O’Shea, Ben Heuston. Subs: Sean Murphy for Calum Murphy (14 minutes); Niall Finnegan for Colin O'Shea (temp sub 45-50); Niall Finnegan for Ben Heuston (55 minutes).

BALLYTEAGUE: James Walsh; Daniel Grogan, Ryan Webb, Luke Jacob; Conor Somers, Pariac Hanely, Fionn Murphy; Gerry Melia, Thomas Callan; Cian Loughlin,, Brian McGrath, Glen Thorpe; Stephen Ennis, Cathal Hanifin, Jimmy Hyland. Subs: Aaron Walsh for Paraic Hanley (45 minutes); Barry Dempsey for Cian Loughlin (55 minutes).

REFEREE: Ken Doyle.

Grangenolvin 3-13 Nurney 2-13

Reporter: Daragh Nolan

Grangenolvin earned an impressive win over Nurney to open their account at Intermediate level. The eventual winners managed a 12-point swing in the 10 minutes before half-time to turn this game on its head.

Grange settled into life in IFC football rather nervously with early wasted chances being punished by their Round 1 opponents. After a couple of solid turnovers and opportunities created for Grange, it was Nurney who hit the front when Cathal Hagney combined with Sean Murphy before finding the net.

Nurney went six clear just past the midway point of the opening half when Hagney looked set to take aim at goal once again but the midfielder was dragged down inside the box and Mikey Conway made no mistake from the spot.

Andrew Behan dispatched a classy score after a fake shot deceived his man to send Nurney seven clear.

Fionn Bergin finally forced his side back into this game when he hit the net while being knocked off-balance at close-range after a ball across the face of goal.

A minute later this game was level when Lee Doyle sent a ball forward which bounced over emerging Nurney ‘keeper Eoghan Fitzpatrick and into the path of Conall Bergin who nipped in and found the net. Oran Bergin pointed to give them the lead for the first time in the 25th minute.

It was then the turn of wing-back Brian Cullen to get in on the act as Grange kept their foot on the accelerator. Cullen combined with Nathan Doyle before firing into the net from a tight angle.

Tomas Cullen and Conall Bergin hit late points for the side in the ascendancy to send them in with a six-point lead at half-time after trailing by six just nine minutes prior.

Mikey Conway got the first score after the restart but back-to-back scores from Conall Bergin arrived in response soon after.

Theo Hanlon hit a fine two-point effort before Mikey Conway added another and Nurney were back within four.

Nurney got back within three when Damien Berns pointed after an exceptional fetch from Cathal Hagney. It was that particular margin that the trailing side found so hard to breach in the second half with Grange always doing enough to keep them at arm’s length.

Grange answered with consecutive frees from Fionn and Oran Bergin, with the latter carried off injured after slotting his score.

Nurney substitute Kevin Conway was next on the scoresheet and they trailed Grange 3-10 to 2-9 with 10 minutes to go.

Mikey Conway again got Nurney within single score range but David Conway’s side always had an answer. This time it was Paul Huntingdon to put them just out of reach once again.

Tomas Cullen grabbed a well-timed second point but Mikey Conway had a two-pointer ready to deploy to draw Nurney back to a margin of three points behind yet again.

Fionn Bergin got Grange’s final score of the game with Andrew Behan answering at the other end, but time ran out on Nurney’s endeavours.

These sides’ tit for tat pattern, which Nurney could not break, occupied most of the second half as Grange ran out 3-13 to 2-13 winners to pick an opening round win in Group C.

Grange: Fionn Bergin 1-4 (0-4 frees), Conall Bergin 1-3, Brian Cullen 1-0, Oran Bergin 0-2 (0-1 frees), Tomas Cullen 0-2, Lee Doyle 0-1, Paul Huntingdon 0-1.

Nurney: Michael Conway 1-4 (1-0 penalty, 0-2 frees), Cathal Hagney 1-0, Theo Hanlon 0-3 (1 x 2ptf), Andrew Behan 0-3 (0-2 frees), Ciaran Callan 0-1, Damien Berns 0-1, Kevin Conway 0-1.

GRANGE: Timmy Doyle; Gavin Ivory, Lewis Gannon, Keith Holligan; Paul Huntingdon, Dylan Costigan, Brian Cullen; Johnny Lawlor, Conall Bergin; Cillian Bergin, Fionn Bergin, Lee Doyle; Nathan Doyle, Oran Bergin, Tomas Cullen. Subs: James Gannon for Johnny Lawlor (Half-time), Nicky Bowens for Oran Bergin (50 minutes), Jessie Moore for Sean Murphy (53 minutes), Aaron Phelan for Cillian Bergin (58 minutes).

NURNEY: Eoghan Fitzpatrick; Noel Kelly, Daragh Conway, Noel Lawlor; Ciaran Callan, Brian Reilly, Steven Conway; Owen Kealey, Cathal Hagney; Damien Berns, Michael Conway, Tadhg Hagney; Sean Murphy, Theo Hanlon, Andrew Behan. Subs: Daniel Kealey for Ciaran Callan (40 minutes), Kevin Conway for Owen Kealey (45 minutes), Ben Doyle for Damien Berns (57 minutes), Cillian Boyle for Tadhg Hagney (59 minutes).

Referee: Niall Colgan