Online Club Football Championship coverage brought to you by the Shannon Springs Hotel—home of The Old Lodge Gastropub.
*Cormac Murray. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
ST JOSEPH’S MILTOWN manager Sean O’Brien believes his side are moving in the right direction.
A hard-earned win over Doonbeg where they recovered from a three point deficit at half time to win by six has put them on the right path towards qualifying for the knockout stages of the Clare SFC.
Manager O’Brien was pleased with a lot of aspects from their first round win where they picked up a valuable two points. “It’s good to get points on the board on the first day out. I’m happy with how we played, I was happy with how we played in the first half as well, the ball just didn’t break our way. We got going there in the second half and made the most of it to get the two points.”
Cian Mahony proved the difference-maker after the interval, producing a superb individual display as he amassed 0-11, including two superb two-pointers that helped Miltown begin to build their momentum. “We want Cian to take on shots like that, he’s a brilliant shooter. We’ve several lads that can kick them so today was Mahony’s day”.
Cormac Murray’s injury-time goal appeared to put the result beyond doubt by stretching the margin to seven points, although Doonbeg responded with a late consolation green flag of their own. “It was needed because they went up and got a goal themselves,” O’Brien said. “We felt we got a good goal there. We had another one really well worked earlier in the game but just didn’t get the rub of the green when it wasn’t allowed to stand. We’re happy to get the goal and the two-pointer at the end”.
Round two pits them against Colm Collins’ Cratloe before the county champions Éire Óg await in the final round. “It’s as tough as it gets now against the two most recent teams to win it out. We’re happy with how we’re going too, we’ve made some positive steps and today was just another step on the road”.
