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Gavin O’Connor on Austin Stacks defeat in the Senior Football County Championship Relegation Playoff yesterday…
Milltown/Castlemaine 2-9
Austin Stacks 2-6
Action from the game on Saturday. Photo by Dermot Crean
A YEAR and a week on from winning the county championship, Austin Stacks are in jeopardy of losing their senior status after they lost to Milltown/Castlemaine in the first match of a relegation double header held in Castleisland.
In a frantic finish that saw both sides hit the net in the dying moments, a dogged Milltown/Castlemaine deserved to get over the line to ensure they will be playing senior championship football in 2016.
Austin Stacks will now face either Ardfert, Laune Rangers or St Michael’s/Foilmore. If they win that game, they will have one last chance to stay up.
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A haul of 1-5 from corner forward, Jack McCarthy, set the Mid Kerry side on their way to shock the current Munster champions.
Playing with a strong breeze in the first half, Milltown/Castlemaine wasted no time in developing a four point. Indeed, it was one way traffic for the Mid Kerry side and it took 13 minutes before Austin Stacks registered their first attempt on goal.
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Pa McCarthy in action during Saturday’s game. Photo by Dermot Crean
The Rock made up for the bad start however, when Sean Ryan hit the net in the 16th minute – the wing forward nestling a shot into the top corner of the net with the citóg.
A minute later the game was all square, Wayne Guthrie, doing incredibly well to land a 45 against the wind.
Milltown would restore a two point advantage at the end of the first half to leave the scores 0-6 to 1-1 at the break.
Now with the wind at their backs, Austin Stacks, needed to get on top of the game from the get-go. The opposite happened when Milltown scored their first goal inside the first minute of the half.
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Kieran Donaghy lays off a pass. Photo by Dermot Crean
Jack McCarthy, finished the ball to net after he got onto a ball that was fizzed across the square. Now five points down, The Rock faithful were beginning to get nervous.
Stacks replied with two points from Conor Jordan and Shane Guthrie, before the side were hit another body blow.
With 42 minutes on the clock, Greg Horan got his marching orders for a second bookable offence. The Kerry U21 was adjudged to have swung an elbow out at Marcus Mangan. Now things were beginning to get very serious.
The sides traded scores twice in a 15 minute spell towards the end of the match. Stacks, were putting up a fight, but the ball was just not sticking in the forward line.
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Action from the game on Saturday. Photo by Dermot Crean
With one minute left on the clock, Milltown looked to have sewn it up with when substitute Eoin O’Brien scored their second goal.
But Darragh O’Brien netted one minute later to make it a three point game once more – Kieran Donaghy setting up O’Brien with a textbook leap and assist.
Donaghy showed his leadership once more when he scored the point of the match a minute later to bring it to within two. The point was a fabulous effort struck over the bar 45 yards out by the sideline.
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Tense times during the match on Saturday. Photo by Dermot Crean
With five minutes of extra time played it was fitting that Jack McCarthy struck the final point of the game to send the Milltown/Castlemaine bench into raptures.
The Stacks are in a predicament players and fans could not have envisaged 12 months ago.
More photos below…
Scorers
Milltown/Castlemaine: Jack McCarthy 1-5 (4f), Donal Kelliher 1-0, Jerome Flynn, Brendan Delaney, Johnathan O’Sullivan, David Roche one point apiece
Austin Stacks: Sean Ryan 1-0, Darragh O’Brien 1-0, Shane O’Callaghan 0-2, Wayne Guthrie 0-1 (45), Jack O’Shea, Conor Jordan, Kieran Donaghy a point apiece
Teams
Milltown/Castlemaine: Cormac Leane, David Roche, Damien Murphy, John Blennerhassett, Paul Carroll, Marcus Mangan, Pa Wrenn, Nigel Wrenn, Brendan Delaney, Jer Hayes, Shane Murphy, Donal Kelliher, Jerome Flynn, Cathal Moriarty, Jack McCarthy
Substitutes: Eoin O’Brien for Jerome Flynn (48), Gavin McKenna for Nigel Wrenn (55)
Austin Stacks: Darragh O’Brien, Barry Walsh, Barry Shanahan, Fearghael MacNamara, Pa McCarthy, Conor Jordan, Jack O’Shea, Wayne Guthrie, Shane Guthrie, Sean Ryan, Jack Morgan, Fiachna Mangan, Greg Horan, Kieran Donaghy, Shane O’Callaghan
Substitutes: Denis McElligott for Niall Morgan (Half Time), David O’Sullivan for Fiachna Mangan (46), Michael O’Donnell for Shane Guthrie (51), Darragh O’Brien for Pa McCarthy (51)
Shane O’Callaghan lays off a pass. Photo by Dermot Crean
Wayne Guthrie launches a shot during a game on Saturday. Photo by Dermot Crean
Action from the game on Saturday. Photo by Dermot Crean
A bit of a schnozzle during the game on Saturday. Photo by Dermot Crean
Action from the game on Saturday. Photo by Dermot Crean
