Who are Milltown's Leinster opponents? A quick look at Duleek-Bellewstown

Milltown will enjoy their latest foray into Leinster this weekend when they face Meath champions Duleek-Bellewstown in Cedral St. Conleths Park.

The Kildare champions battered Mostrim 2-18 to 0-1 a couple of weeks ago in Pearse Park while the Meath men had to wait until last weekend, when they beat Mullinavat, to insert their name into the Leinster Club final eight fixture list.

Duleek came through their delayed clash with the Kilkenny senior champions 0-15 to 1-9 in Callan last Sunday. The Meath men started brightly with the game’s opening five points and led by six at the interval but 1-3 after the restart in a fine Mullinavat resurgence meant Duleek needed to find answers.

The Meath IFC winners responded well to being pegged back with points from sharpshooter Sam O'Leary, centre-back Tom Bowden and wing-forward Kyle Doherty to create a fresh buffer. Duleek kept the Kilkenny boys at arm’s length from there and booked their place in this quarter-final.

County final

Duleek-Bellewstown and Navan O’Mahonys met in their county IFC decider with a razor close contest expected by fans and layers alike with the slight edge, if there was one, going to the latter. Duleek in the end would be 10 points better in this county final and made their return to senior football in some style.

There was more than meets the eye in this game however with the eventual winners leading by five at the break before trailing by three early in the second half after O’Mahony’s hit their stride. According to the Meath Chronicle report from the game, the Navan men scored 1-6 of their 1-10 tally between the 31st and 41st minute.

The O’Mahony’s surge was short-lived and Duleek responded with 2-7 without reply to put this game beyond doubt for the side in the ascendancy for 50 of the 60 minutes played. It is however the second big game in a row where Duleek have given up their healthy half-time advantage quite quickly after the restart.

The Duleek midfield duo of Shane Crosby (who scored 1-4) and Robin Clarke were praised for their performances for the IFC champions and their battle with Conor Sheerin and Joe Dunne will no doubt be a brilliant watch. Dunne and Sheerin excelled in their outings against Suncroft where they by no means had it all their own way with fielding across the two hours of football as good as even. No doubt those contests will have prepared them well for what is to come on Saturday.

Duleek have also had the services of St Kilda AFL star Eamonn Armstrong who caught the eye of GAA fans and AFL scouts alike during an impressive string of games for Meath’s U20 side back in 2024.

County final Starting XV’s

Duleek-Bellewstown: Ryan Lynch; Cillian Kirwan, Colm Regan, Glen Callaghan; Cianan Byrne, Tom Bowden, Oisín Miland; Shane Crosby, Robin Clarke; Kyle Doherty, Eamonn Armstrong, Sam O’Leary; Johnny McDonnell, John Flood, Joe Hartford.

Milltown: Omar Dunne; Jamie Cross, Cian Buckley, Sean Murphy; Kevin Byrne, Colin O’Shea, Liam Kelly; Joe Dunne, Conor Sheerin; Ben Curran, Alan Dignam, Hugh Hamilton; Paddy Donoghue, Ronan O’Shea, Niall Finnegan.