James’ spurn late chances to force extra time in Tuam

MILLTOWN 1-12

ST. JAMES’ 0-14

COUNTRY fervour overcame city slickness in this second round senior football championship clash at Tuam Stadium on Saturday evening as Milltown edged their way to a deserved victory over a battling St. James’ side.

It was a lively encounter from start to finish, and while St. James’ will be disappointed to have missed two late opportunities to send the game into extra-time, Milltown had over the course of the hour, generally looked to be the more balanced team.

John Concannon’s side probably shouldn’t have had to rely on the late James’ misses to make it through to the next round as they fluffed a whole series of chances in a four minutes spell just after half-time.

When it came to the crunch though, Milltown just had more leaders on the pitch and they also enjoyed a slight edge in hunger over a St. James’s side that did put together some flowing passages of play . . . but not enough of them.

The big breakthrough in the game appeared to have come in the 18th minute when the game’s star forward, Mark Hehir, rattled the losers’ net from close range after Michael Martin had broken down a Cathal Blake free.

Hehir gave a great first half exhibition of clinical forward play, complementing his goal strike with three excellent points while Michael Martin (2) and Sean Glynn completed Milltown’s first half total of 1-6.

Although the goal put Milltown into 1-5 to 0-6 interval lead, they were still reeled in by half-time thanks to the accuracy of Eoin Concannon (3), Paul Conroy (3), Eoin McHugh (2) and Alan O’Donnell.

St. James’ keeper, John Egan, had to advance smartly to deny Cathal Blake a goal in the eighth minute although Milltown did have the consolation of a Sean Glynn point from the resultant ‘45’.

At the other end, St. James’ corner forward Alan O’Donnell also had the sniff of a goal chance but didn’t make a clean contact with a Jamie Burke cross as the net beckoned in front of him.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.