JFC Group A Rundown - Wins for Rathcoffey, Milltown and Ballykelly on opening day

Tom Cross Junior Fooball Championship got under way last week. Here is the full reports from each of the Group A, round one games as Milltown faced Grangenolvin, Rathcoffey faced Castlemitchell and Ballykelly played Ardclough.

Milltown 1-13

Grangenolvin 1-10

Two of the teams expected to have a major say where the JFC winners would emerge from were drawn in the opening Round in Group A and Milltown and Grangenolvin did not disappoint putting on a craking game in Hawkfield on Saturday afternoon.

The sides produced the game of the weekend in an end to end clash but the Division Four league champions Miltown had three points to spare after a highly entertaining sixty minutes.

After a close opening half where Grange lead by the minimum it was Miltown who turned in that superb second half performance to gain the early bragging rights.

Patrick Donohue converted a third minute free after Colin O Shea was fouled to set them on their way.

Despite lining out without four regulars Grange were quick into their stride and they hit three points in three minutes to move two ahead. Wayne Dooley,Thomas Cullen and a Fionn Bergin free all on target.
Miltown were finding it hard to break down a solid Grange rearguard and they had to wait until the 13th minute for Patrick Donohue to ad a second free.

The powerful running of Kevin Byrne forcing a free and Donohue did the rest.The Bergin brothers,only three available for this game, were involved for Grange's fourth point.

Conall operating around the half back line got forward to set up Fionn with a simple tap over.Before the twentieth minute we were back on level terms.

Conor Sheerin pointing a free after Karl Heuston was fouled and the pacey Callum Murphy created space to shoot over from a tight angle.

Fionn Bergin and Conor Sheerin both converted frees Sheerin again capitalising on Colin O'Shea's ability to get forward.

Fionn Bergin was a solid target man and when he drew a foul he tapped over from 20 metres. Just as we headed into injury time a diagonal pass from Fionn Bergin found Tomas Cullen and he ensured Grange went to the dressing room 0-6 to 0-5 to the good.

Miltown returned the hungrier team and inside nine minutes they turned the one point deficit into a three point lead.The influential pair of Colin O'Shea and Kevin Byrne were dominating and it brought about points from Callum Murphy, Ronan O Shea, Kevin Byrne and Patrick Donohue.

A Fionn Bergin free, his fourth of the game, was all that Grange could muster in 20 minutes of the second half.

To Miltown's credit they sensed the opportunity for victory and as we passed the 50th minute they had moved five ahead and a what you imagined was a match winning lead.

Karl Heuston Cian Buckley and Patrick Donohue,with his fourth all pointing.Miltown captain Buckley got forward from full back to kick an inspirational score.

One of the teams of the year in Division three Grange are very resilient and just as you thought they were dead and buried they went to their reserves for one last time. They hit 1-3 without reply in 4 minutes.

Miltown had gone cold and when Fionn Bergin added his fifth and sixth scores Grange were back in sight of the men in red and green.

Thomas Cullen quickly added his third and with the game back to one score Miltown were struggling to stem the flow.
A short kickout was gathered by Wayne Dooley and while he should have goaled, Ian Fitzgerald made a great save only for Thomas Cullen to crack home the rebound.

Seven minutes remaining and Grange were back in front.Miltown introduced the experienced pair of Alan Dignam and Omar Dunne. It had the desired effect and when Callum Murphy's 59th minute effort came back off the post Ronan O Shea was on hand to raise a green flag.Grange pushed for another chance and when goal keeper Timmy Doyle shot from 30 metres a neat flick from Keith McGloin was well saved by Ian Fitzgerald Miltown broke at pace and Dean Curran tapped over the insurance point.

A great advertisement for the Junior competition and Miltown will be delighted for this relatively young team to get a win under their belt.They had great performances from Cian Buckley, Colin O Shea,Shane Daly ,Kevin Byrne and Patrick Donohue.

GRANGENOLVIN: Timmy Doyle, Ross Dooley,Tom Nolan,Gavin Ivory, Denis Dooley, Dylan Costigan, Luke Thornton, Cillian Bergin, Danny Cullen, Wayne Dooley 0-1, Lee Doyle, Conall Bergin, Tomas Cullen 1-3, Fionn Bergin 0-6 (5 frees), Keith McGloin. Subs: Michael Kelly for Denis Dooley h/t; Lewis Gannon for Ross Dooley 46; Paul Huntingdon for Danny Cullen 55.

MILLTOWN: Ian Fitzgerald, Jamie Cross, Cian Buckley 0-1, Karl Downey, Sean Murphy, Colin O Shea, Shane Daly,Kevin Byrne 0-1, Conor Sheerin 0-2 (2 frees), Aaron Jacob, Karl Heuston 0-1, Ben Curran 0-1,Callum Murphy 0-2, Ronan O Shea 1-1, Patrick Donohue 0-4 (2 frees). Subs: Aaron Walker for Aaron Jacob h/t; Omar Dunne for Karl Heuston 54; Alan Dignam for Conor Sheerin 54.
Referee Eamon Kelly.

Rathcoffey 3-15

Castlemitchell 2-7

A final 20 minute spell that saw Rathcoffey hit an unanswered 2-7 saw them record a fine win over Castlemitchell in the JFC on Saturday.

James Harris got proceedings underway with a point for 'Mitchell; Evin McGovern responded with the minute.

Points from Michael O’Connor and Darroch Mulhall were shared and as we approached the quarter Mulhall broke forward before gathering and blasting past Shane Stone in the Rathcoffey net.

Rathcoffey hit back and leveled with points from McGovern (2) and Chris Sheils.
John Fennelly was shown back on 20 minutes

Conor Harris had Rathcoffey in the lead for the first time before Cillian McGovern found his way past Shane Kelly to leave Rathcoffey four to the good, increased to five at the break with another McGovern point.

Castlemitchell hit a Mulhall brace on the resumpiton; Emmet Hyland goaled, the sides were level on 37 seven minutes.

Rathcoffey gradually took control Michael O’Connor netted and a further two points from Jamie Brilly to take the advantage to six with eight minutes remaining in the tie.

Rathcoffey added their third goal through Cathal Travers and a final four points from Rathcoffey in the closing stages closed out the tie.

RATHCOFFEY: Shane Stone; Nathan Orrill, Eoghan McDonnell, Jamie Brilly 0-1; Oisín Brilly, Mark Halligan, Cillian McGovern; Padraig McManamon, Cathal Travers 1-0; Evin McGovern 0-5, Conor Harris 0-3, Colum Fagan; Chris Sheils 1-2, Michael O’Connor 1-3, Jason Acton. Subs: John O’Donoghue 0-1 (f) for Brilly, 55.

CASTLEMITCHELL: Shane Kelly; Jordan Horgan, David Ryan, Mark Kelly; John O’Connor, Oisín Boylan, Ray Fitzgerald; James Harris, Ross Harris 0-2 (1f); John Fennelly, Paddy Ryan, Mark Fennelly; Darroch Mulhall 1-5, Emmet Hyland 1-0, Ray Kavanagh.

REFEREE: Frank Delaney

Ballykelly 1-6

Ardclough 0-5

Ballykelly and Ardclough got the Tom Cross Junior Football Championship up and running in Manguard Park Hawkfield on Thursday evening last.

Ballykelly did get the better of Ardclough over the hour and ran out four point winners in a game that failed to reach any great heights.

It took until the 13 minute before either umpire was called into action when Darragh Byrne fired home a spectacular goal for Ballykelly.

A long run from corner back Darragh Perry saw him offload to Owen Whelan,a quick transfer to Byrne saw the midfielder fire home from 25 metres out. Charlie White added a left footed point three minutes later and from nowhere Ballykelly were four ahead.

Despite having plenty of possession Ardclough couldn't find the range and it was two Shane McEvoy frees on 21 and 26 that got them up and running as we closed in on the half time whistle. Ardclough capitalised on their dominance as Cillian Burke curled over a lovely point to close the gap to 1-1 to 0-3 as Colm Kearney brought the half to a close.

On the restart Ardclough continued to be the dominant side and when Shane McEvoy added his third free we were back level. Good work from Stephen White created a a point for Cole Grattan. County minor Charlie White then hit three frees in a row to move Ballykelly four ahead and that was the way it stayed.

Ballykelly: David Moore, Darragh Perry,Damon Howard, Stephen McNally, Russell Grattan,Josh Lawler, Cole Grattan 0-1,Darragh Byrne 1-0, Owen Whelan, Jack Smith, Simon Luttrell, Eddie O Connell, Stephen White, Mikey Charlie White 0-5 (4 frees), Adam Gordon. Subs: Dara Lovern for Stephen White 48. Callum Grattan for Damon Howard 51.

Ardclough : Joe Ahern, Tom Costigan Donal Delahunt, Kieran Brady, Sean Whelan, Tadhg McCarthy, Connor Duggan, Fionn Carr, Michael Byrne, Cillian Burke 0-1, Sean Buggy, Colin O Donnell, Shane McEvoy 0-3 (3 frees),Gary Delahunt,Liam Hanley 0-1.

Referee: Colm Kearney.