Milltown are still C'strane's bogey team!

By BILLY COSS Milltown .0-9 Caherlistrane .0-5 ON a weekend when several of the Championship's leading contenders were brought the distance before eventually booking their quarter-final places, Milltown were among the most relieved of all winning teams after an incredibly wasteful Caherlistrane let them off the hook in Tuam Stadium on Sunday evening. On one hand, the result is all that matters and a four-point win over a team of Caherlistrane's calibre can never be knocked, yet Milltown performed well below their best and against opponents whose woeful finishing cost them dearly.[private] Overall, this was a slow burner of a match, falling well short of the drama of the Corofin vs Cortoon clash that preceded it. Caherlistrane never held the lead at any stage, and Milltown never pulled away â€â€ as Steve Faulkner's side squandered chance after chance, particularly in the second half, and failed to make any serious inroads into Milltown's half-time lead. Milltown's form has fluctuated wildly from half to half in both of their Championship matches to date. On Sunday, Cathal Sheridan's team were value for their four-point lead at the break but fortunate to retain it after a sluggish, disjointed second half in which they were on the back foot for long spells and coughed up possession far too cheaply. The margins for error reduce from here on and while Milltown possess the talent to mount a serious County title bid, more consistency over the entire hour will need to be found between now and quarter-finals provisionally scheduled for mid-August. Caherlistrane could do everything but finish in the second half and all the talk leaving the ground was of how they somehow managed to pass up a series of scoring chances to win this match. The bare statistics make for particularly grim reading this week with a conversion rate that stood at 5/22 scoring attempts (compared to Milltown's 9/17) and a wides count that rose to 15 by the finish (to their opponents five). So often their match-winner, Cormac Bane had a day to forget in front of the posts, in particular, as Caherlistrane bowed out of the Championship with major regrets. This last 16 clash was a repeat of the meeting between the sides at the same stage in 2011 and, remarkably, it followed almost exactly the same script. Milltown dominated first half to lead 7-3, just as they did last August, before a second-half fade-out handed their opponents the initiative. For the second successive year, sub-standard finishing proved costly for Caherlistrane when the game was there to be won in the second half. Seán Hehir picked up where he left off against Moycullen as Milltown, in their changed strip of yellow and blue, came fast out of the blocks, hitting four points without reply in the opening seven minutes. Michael Martin's return to their starting line-up after injury was to prove crucial and his three first-half scores from play helped the winners to a four-point interval lead as missed chances were beginning to rack up for Caherlistrane. Goal chances came and went at both ends throughout with Caherlistrane's J. J. Greaney and Shane O'Brien and Milltown's Mark and Seán Hehir going closest. Oisín O'Brien, Eanna Glynn and Eric Monahan proved to be major losses yet plenty of players were leading from the front for Caherlistrane: Rory Glynn was outstanding in defence, Noel Judge put in a brilliant second half while Tomás Monaghan, Shane Bohan, Ciarán Murphy and Shane O'Brien all came more and more into it as the game progressed. Scores from Cillian and Cormac Bane cut the deficit back to two after 42 minutes and while it looked anyone's game at that stage, Caherlistrane would not add to their score. Once again, it was backs-to-the-wall for Milltown in the second half of a big game and again they came out the right side of the result, thanks in no small measure to some excellent defensive work by the likes of David Hernon and Ciarán and Diarmaid Blake. Little was going right for Caherlistrane in attack and Cormac Bane's accuracy continued to desert him as his team's second-half wides tally grew to nine. Milltown were repeatedly forced into defensive mode and they had to dig deep. In particular, captain Cathal Blake put in a massive second half, winning vital ball in midfield at times when the tide was turning against his team. While Caherlistrane continued to pass up chance after chance, there were few signs of Milltown adding to their own interval tally until Seán Blake retrieved a lost cause and earned a vital, close-in free that Michael Martin converted in the 43rd minute. Amazingly, there were no further scores until Martin then brought his personal tally to six in the game's final action to secure Milltown's place in the quarter-finals for a sixth time in seven years. Milltown: C. Nolan; D. Forde, S. Varley, D. Hernon; D. Mullahy, Ciarán Blake, J. Martin (0-1); Cathal Blake, captain, D. Brennan (0-1); S. Blake, M. Martin (0-5, two frees), D. Blake; F. Nicholson, S. Hehir (0-2), M. Hehir. Subs: B. Molloy, for Nicholson, half-time; J. Hynes for S. Hehir inj., 55 mins. Caherlistrane: B. Keane; R. Glynn, C. Monaghan, N. Judge; P. Madden, S. Burke, T. Monaghan, captain; S. Bohan, C. Murphy; B. McCabe, Cillian Bane (0-1), S. O'Brien (0-1); J. J. Greaney, Cormac Bane (0-3, two frees), R. Conneely. Subs: L. O'Brien, for Madden, 20 mins; E. Heneghan for McCabe, 50 mins; M. Monaghan, for Cillian Bane, 59 mins. Referee: Muiris Mac Gearailt. Herald Sport Man of the Match: Michael Martin (Milltown).[/private]