Brilliant Brandon shows the way for Milltownpass

One of Westmeath’s star forwards from this year, Brandon Kelly, brought his county form into the club championship and his finishing prowess was too much for Castledaly at St James’ Park, Kilbeggan last Monday week.

Castledaly could be perceived as having the Monday blues but whatever it was, maybe Monday night football doesn’t suit them as they were hammered in this first round game. They will need to improve drastically to compete in Section A of the championship this year.

Milltownpass were the complete opposite, they came into the game buzzing and, in Westmeath player Kelly, they had a match winner. Kelly scored 2-1 in the first quarter and that laid the platform for the win.

The eventual winners finished off the game as a contest when they scored two more goals without reply just before the break. All four goals came from playing with pace and directness. They were scoring at will and were 4-12 to 0-6 in the ascendancy at half-time.

Castledaly did hold their own in the first five minutes of the game, and the hardworking Adam Turley opened the scoring in the first minute with a rip roaring two-pointer.

This inspirational score hinted that Castledaly might have an evening to remember. However other than a booming two-point free from Alan Stone and scores from Justin Coughlan, they didn’t push on and cause their opponents any pressure. They never got a grip on the game for any sustained period to build any momentum or rhythm in their play.

Milltownpass attacker Kelly got into the groove in the 13th minute with a point, then he got in behind the Castledaly defence and blasted the ball past Eanna Duffy in goal. Kelly then scored Milltownpass’ second goal, again using his pace to get in behind the defence, before blasting the ball to the roof of the net.

With the momentum firmly in their favour, Milltownpass pushed on as Oisin Coogan added a brace of goals. The game was done and dusted by the interval. It was the inspirational play off Kelly in the first quarter and another five-minute rampage on the Castledaly goalmouth just before the break that decided the game before the first half had elapsed.

After the resumption, Emmett Brennan scored Milltownpass’ fifth goal in the 37th minute. After that they scored just twice, but they didn’t need to score at all in the second half and would still have won comfortably anyway.

Finbar Coyne and Brennan both more than assisted Kelly in attack.

To their credit, Castledaly battled away and they did outscore Milltownpass 0-8 to 1-4 in the second half.

Aaron Sheerin kicked a two-pointer, then full-back Liam Fitzpatrick came up into attack to raise an orange flag of his own and Alan Stone kicked a two-point free to put some respectability on the scoreboard.

But it was all too late for Castledaly and they will need to overcome this result and try to get a win in the next round.

Scorers - Milltownpass: O Coogan 2-3; B Kelly 2-1; F Coyne 0-6; E Brennan 1-5 (1tpf, 0-1 45); L O’Reilly 0-1. Castledaly: A Stone 0-4 (2tpf); J Coughlan 0-3 (1tpf); A Sheerin (tp), A Turley (tp) and L Fitzpatrick (tp) 0-2 each; S Kerrigan 0-1.

Milltownpass - Ruairi Coyne; Paul O’Reilly, Noel O’Reilly, Michael McCormack; Aidan O’Brien, Tony Loftus, Liam Gorman; Shane Whelehan, Liam O’Reilly; Donnacha Coogan, Finbar Coyne, Eoghan Gallagher; Emmett Brennan, Oisin Coogan, Brandon Kelly. Subs used: Darragh Scullion, Conor Flanagan, Darragh O’Connor.

Castledaly - Eanna Duffy; Cathal Dolan, Liam Fitzpatrick, David Dolan; Michael Lynch, Damien Stone, Shane Dolan; Alan Stone, Paul Costello; Adam Turley, Aaron Nugent, Jamie Anders; Justin Coughlan, Aaron Sheerin, Lorcan Dolan. Subs used: Shaun Kerrigan, Jack Kearney, Tom Martin, Colin Doyle.