Mountbellew go through the motions in mauling Milltown

MOUNTBELLEW-MOYLOUGH 2-17

MILLTOWN 0-11

NOT a contest to be in contention for game of the season, but Mountbellew-Moylough won’t worry too much about that after cruising to a facile 12 points win over a disappointing Milltown side at Tuam Stadium on Saturday evening.

Mountbellew-Moylough would have been fancied to take the spoils in this Round 3 game of the senior football championship, but most observers expected Milltown to put up a better battle.

While Milltown did have a sprinkling of good individual displays, in terms of teamwork, pace and scoring power, they were completely over-ran by a very focused and determined Mountbellew outfit.

Only for the supreme dominance of Corofin in Galway club football, Mountbellew probably would have a county title or two under their belts over recent years but on this form, they’ll give it a good go again this season.

Midway through the first half, the winners led by 0-6 to 0-0, and by half-time, when they had powered their way into a 0-10 to 0-2 advantage, there was no way back for Milltown – the margin of victory being the only issue at stake.

It made for rather painful viewing for the Milltown supporters and the neutrals at the old stadium – when a match is not competitive, keeping the yawns at bay is quite a difficult exercise.

During that first half, the Mountbellew forwards peppered the town goal with points as Barry McHugh (4), Cathal Kenny, Michael Daly, Colm Mannion and Paul Donnellan all hit the target – at the other end, Milltown’s two second quarter replies came from a Michael Martin free and a punched effort from Cathal Blake.

Milltown’s brightest period of play came in the opening three minutes of the match when they had one goal effort blocked while they had what looked like a pretty solid penalty claimed turned down by referee James Molloy.

With the aerial power of Milltown full forward Cathal Blake causing a bit of bother to the last line of the winners’ defence, Dessie Dolan’s side came close to having a whirlwind start.

Michael Martin had goal on his mind from about 12 yards out but his strike was batted away by a couple of Mountbellew defenders while seconds later, Mark Hehir got a pretty clear-cut nudge in the back as he seemed destined to find the back of the net.

It was though very much of a false dawn for Milltown as from there on, Mountbellew dominated across all parts of the field, playing with loads of pace and creating bucketfuls of chances into the bargain.

Their half-backline of Colin Murray, John Daly (back in action for a long injury lay-off) and Paul Donnellan mopped up anything loose behind dominant midfielders, Joe Bergin and Cathal Kenny.

While Milltown did up their scoring rate during the early second half exchanges with points from Damien Brennan, Michael Martin and Mark Hehir, any semblance of doubt about the outcome was removed in the 40th minute.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.