Ardara see off Milford in Pearse Memorial Park

Ardara seen off Milford by six points at a rainy Pearse Memorial Park on Saturday evening. 

The hosts had jumped three in front early on thanks to Gavin Sweeney, twice, and another from Niall McCrossan.

Milford soon reduced the lead to one with Shane Black converted a free, before returning to grab another from open play.

Ardara extended the lead once again thanks to two more overs from Sweeney. But this was followed by a real purple patch by Milford as they rattled off 1-4 without reply. 

Kane Barrett buried a ball to the back of the net before helping himself to a free and a point from play. This was backed up by further points from Darragh and Shane Black.

A quick break from the kickout led to Joe Kittrick of Ardara putting a ball past the Milford ‘keeper, into the net. 

This was followed a few minutes later by another goal from Sweeney, knocking the ball out of the keeper’s hands whilst jumping for a long ball in from Kyle McHugh.

Both teams then traded points with Barrett posting from play followed by Darragh Hennigan doing the same for Ardara. 

This was followed by converted frees from Shane Black and Niall McCrossan for their respective teams before half-time, with it being 2-7 to 1-8 in Ardara's favour at the changeover.

The second-half began with points from Joe Kittrick and Johnny McHugh for Ardara. Before Lorcan Friel of Milford pegged one back but Ardara replied again through Kyle McHugh.

Milford then grabbed a superb two-pointer from Shane Black and he backed this up with another point for good measure. 

However, Ardara then converted two frees from McCrossan to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

The next phase saw Barrett once again grab a point for Milford. But Ardara replied with points from McCrossan and Anthony Bennett having to dodge his way through the Milford defence before taking his point.

McCrossan was then sidelined to a black card with less than a minute left in ordinary time. 

But this didn't stop McHugh grabbing two late overs to ease Ardara home. 

Ardara scorers: Gavin Sweeney 1-4; Niall McCrossan 0-5 3f; Joe Kittrick 1-1; Johnny McHugh 0-3, 1f; Darragh Hennigan, Kyle McHugh, Anthony Bennett 0-1 each.

Milford scorers: Shane Black 0-7, 2f 1tp; Kane Barrett 1-4 2f; Darragh Black, Lorcan Friel 0-1 each.

Ardara: Paddy Gallagher, Charlie Bennett, Shane Whyte, Johnny McGonagle; Shane Mooney, Darragh Hennigan, Danny Walsh; JR Molloy, Josh Malley; Joe Kitterick, Kyle McHugh, Anthony Bennett; Niall McCrossan, Johnny McHugh, Gavin Sweeney.

Milford: Killian Hagan; Anthony Curran, Kyle Black, Shane Coffey; Thomas Evesson, Peter Curran, Conor McHugh, Lorcan Friel; Eoin O'Donnell, Kane Barrett; Finn Coll, Dylan Dorrian, Christopher Barrett; Darragh Black, Shane Black. 

Subs: Rory O'Brien for Finn Coll (49).