Relief for Kane Barrett and Milford as SFC status is retained for 2023

There was a certain amount of relief for man of the match, Milford’s Kane Barrett, as he spoke after his side’s extra-time win against Bundoran to secure their place in the senior championship again next year.

It wasn’t always pretty, but it was probably the most exciting contest of the weekend as Bundoran came back from 12 points down to lead by five at one stage in the first period of extra-time only for Milford to hit back and win by three in the end.

Central to that Milford win was Barrett, who finished with 2-9 to his name and he was also involved in a few more scores in Milford’s 4-16 to 3-16 extra-time win.

“I think we didn’t know whether to play with or against the wind. I suppose last year played out similarly. We were six or seven points up at half-time.  I think we were too comfortable. To an extent we underestimated the threat they were going to pose to us in the second half,” said Barrett.

“They had serious runners. Jamie Brennan was excellent and Timmy Govorov and Adam McGlone drove forward. We did struggle to contain them for a while in the second half. I suppose we did show good guts to stay in it. We could have thrown in the towel when they went level. We were a bit annoyed at the time that we conceded in the last minute of normal  time. We were probably thankful for getting extra-time then.”

But when Bundoran struck for 1-2 and the first period of extra-time almost over, it looked like a winning lead, but then came a goal from Tony McNamee and another turning point.

“For about seven or eight minutes of that first period (of extra-time) we frustrated them. But they got one or two points, Jamie Brennan kicked a few bombs from long range that we couldn’t do much about. But we were annoyed with the sucker punch of the goal that we conceded. But as I say, Tony McNamee turns up everywhere.  If I had a euro for every time that Tony dug us out of the fire in the last few years, I’d be a wealthy man. We were delighted to have him there.

Another Barrett stood up in the second period with older brother, Luke, firing Milford back in front with his left.

“Down the years he has kicked a few bombs like that. Look, he’s a really level head to have for us there," Kane Barrett added. "Even the free that I got to level, Paddy Ferry came off the bench and won an excellent free and before that he won a mark. Our bench was very good. Ryan McMahon came and I thought Ryan changed the game when he came on.

"He gave us that physical presence in the middle of the field and he broke a few balls and we started to get a cushion in the second half (of extra-time). Once we got the two, three point cushion, unless there was going to be a disaster, I was hoping that we would hold on.”

And what does it mean to Milford to survive?

“It’s been the talk around for a long time. There’s been a lot of good footballers that went through Milford who never got the opportunity to play senior football. The only previous time we were up we stayed for a season and we were back down.

“It was disappointing regarding our numbers  this year. It is good that we can take stock now and play senior championship next year, play Division 2 next year and try and push on and try to get a few lads back.”

After hitting 2-9, Kane Barrett is likely to be on the radar of whoever takes over as county manager, but when asked about this, Barrett gave a very political answer.

“I suppose in the first half of our 2-7, me and Shane Black might have got 2-5 between us.  Shane is a good footballer. Unfortunately we missed him a lot of the season this year through injury. When you have a few good forwards like himself and Darren and Cathal and Dylan Doherty and Tony coming forward, it is brilliant.”