Milltownpass have their ‘heads held high’, says Ennis

It could have been so different for Milltownpass in last Saturday’s Westmeath intermediate football championship final if they had got the rub of the green with some decisions, and had they taken more of their chances.

That was the view of team manager Louis Ennis, who spoke to the press after his charges’ narrow defeat to Tang in TEG Cusack Park.

“There was nothing in it in the end when we got ourselves back into it,” Ennis said.

Ennis referred to a Finbar Coyne shot that “could have crept over” for a point, or “it could have come out to a Milltownpass fella and it could have been in the net, such are the small margins,” said the Ballinagore native.

“We are disappointed. We did well to get back into the game. I thought we had the momentum there for a good while. But we just couldn’t get ahead. Looking back, that was our regret - not getting ahead when we had a lot of momentum.”

A slow start from Milltownpass allowed eventual winners Tang to build up a head of steam, but Ennis reckoned that his side’s inability to unlock the talents of forward Brandon Kelly was crucial.

“We were certainly creating the chances. I thought Brandon [Kelly] was looking very dangerous early on when we got the ball, and there was some last ditch defending by Tang. They held him up,” Ennis explained.

“But I suppose as the game went on, we struggled to get Brandon into the game, while Finbar [Coyne] was getting ball and putting balls over the bar. But he [Kelly] did look dangerous, if we managed to get more ball into him.”

The decision to award Tang the late free, which was subsequently converted by Adam Neary and settled the fixture, was a “dubious” one, Ennis opined.

“But he [Neary] put it over, under high pressure, so fair play to him,” Ennis continued.

“I thought Milltownpass got it really hard to get frees. If you look back at the free count, we got it really hard, and they [Tang] got frees much easier than we did. But that’s the ref’s call, and we have to accept it, which we do.

“We can go out with our heads held high. The players were brilliant all year, and they were brilliant when we got out of the group stage with the games against the ‘Bridge and Malachy’s, and this just proved a small bit too far for us, though it could have gone either way.

“I’m very proud of the management team – they’ve worked brilliantly all year – and the group of players that’s there and how they battled with injuries through the year as well. So credit to them, but unfortunately not our day,” he added.