MacCumhaill's hit big score to open with impressive win away to Milford

Sean McCumhaill’s quickly wiped away the disappointment of missing out on the Division 2 league title with a very well deserved six-point  victory over Milford at Moyleview Park in a Group D Senior Football Championship opener.

Milford 1-16

Sean McCumhaill’s 4-13

It was a very disappointing performance from the hosts who now face a massive uphill battle to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition as they have to travel to Kilcar next weekend.

From the outset the visitors looked the much more threatening side in the final third of the field with Padraic Patton and especially Oisin Gallen looking really lively. Between them the pair had 1-4 on the board by the 16th minute. Patton shot two early points from play while Luke Barrett (free) and Darragh Black were on the mark for Danny O’Donnell’s outfit. The goal threat was coming from the Twin Towns men with Caolan McGettigan pulling off a fantastic save to deny Steven O’Reilly at the expense of a 45m free.

Christopher Barrett did put Milford 0-3 to 0-2 up in the eighth minute before Gallen stole the show with 1-2. The goal came in the 14th and was a superb individual effort waltzing past two defenders before cooly slipping the ball past a helpless McGettigan. Milford were in trouble again when Aaron Kelly flicked a Steven O’Reilly ball onto the crossbar with McGettigan making another super stop to deny Gallen from the rebound but at the second attempt the McCumhaill’s man did pop the ball over.

The hosts were in big trouble and while Luke Barrett did land his side’s fifth point the Moyleview men were opened up again with Marty O’Reilly bursting through to give Brian Lafferty the easiest of chances to palm the ball into an empty net. Patton added a point as the visitors went into a 2-6 to 0-5 lead with three minutes of first half normal time remaining. Gavin Gallagher raised another white flag for the Ballybofey men while Cathal McGettigan was on target twice for the hosts to leave the half-time score 2-7 to 0-7.

Danny O’Donnell’s men needed a really good start to the second half but disaster struck when with Lafferty palmed his second goal past Caolan McGettigan. Luke Barrett (2), Tony McNamee and Cathal McGettigan did post points for the home team but they needed goals quickly. Instead it was the visitors who struck for a killer fourth goal courtesy of Marty O’Reilly. It put his side 10 points ahead midway through the second half. With nine minutes remaining Milford did find the back of the net when Joey Cullen got a hand to a Paddy Peoples ball to the get the better of Eoin Gallen for one and only time in the Group D encounter.

The hosts did up the tempo in the closing stages  and there were a couple of goalmouth scrambles but McCumhaill’s defended well with Peoples and Christopher Barrett only managing points while Darragh Black saw a close range effort hit the side netting. But, it was the Twin Towns outfit who deservedly secured a really good two points and puts them in a good position to qualify for the knockout stages of the senior championship.

MILFORD: Caolan McGettigan; Garry Merritt,  Barry McNulty,, Conor McHugh; Tony McNamee 0-1, Paddy Peoples 0-1, David Curley 0-1, Sean Black, Joey Cullen 1-0, Luke Barrett 0-3 (1f), Cathal McGettigan 0-6 (3fs), Christopher Barrett 0-3 (1f), Darragh Black 0-1, Kane Barrett, Pauric Curley. Subs: Ryan McMahon for B McNulty (h-t), Conor McNulty and James Doyle for S Black and P Curley 44 mins, Ronan Docherty for Black (49), Kyle Black for D Curley 58 mins.

SEAN MACCUMHAILL’S:  Eoin Gallen, Chris Gallagher 0-1, Martin Gallagher, Conor Griffin, Ronan McMenamin, Gary Dunnion, , Luke Gavigan, Steven O’Reilly 0-1, Padraic Patton 0-3, Gary Wilson 0-1, Marty O’Reilly 1-0, Aaron Kelly 0-1, Oisin Gallen 1-5 (2fs), Gavin Gallagher 0-1. Brian Lafferty 2-0. Subs: Adam Lynch and Stephen Mulligan for Griffin and Lafferty 47 mins, Chad McSorley for Mulligan 53 mins black card, Nathan Gavigan for Patton 60 mins.

REFEREE: Connie Doherty (N Conaill)