A BRILLIANT solo effort from the diminutive Timmy Govorov midway through the second half sealed a comfortable victory for Bundoran over Milford in Gaelic Park.
Bundoran 2-18 Milford 1-12
By Noel Carr at Gaelic Park
Bundoran secured their second win of the championship with a strong last quarter to see off a resilient Milford
The home side who were short the services of county star Paul Brennan following a straight red in the Burn Road hit 8 first half wides but were deserved winners in the end.
Milford opened the scoring in the 4th min when Kane Barrett stroked over a free following a foul on Shay Dunnion.Bundoran were soon level with a fine long range effort from full forward Gary Clancy.
A Cathal McGettigan free edged the visitors back in front before Timmy Govorov got on the end of good Bundoran move to level matters again on 12 minutes.
Govorov was on hand again to fire over seconds later after a being well fed by Cian McEniff.
Young Matthew McLaughlin then split the posts with an excellent effort to leave it three points apiece at the water break.
Clancy put Realt na Mara back in front from play following a controversial call by referee Seamus McGonigle when he awarded a free to Bundoran after Milford took a free too short.
The first goal of the game arrived on 20 minutes.
A high ball was fumbled in the Bundoran defence and Milford broke at pace with McGettigan and Daragh Black setting up Kane Barrett to palm to the net.
Big Ciaran McCaughey pointed for the home team on 19 minutes to leave it a one-point game 1-3 to 0-05.
Disaster then struck for the Moyle Park men when firstly they lost talisman Cathal McGettigan to a hamstring injury and from the resultant play Michael McEniff saw his first attempt blocked on the line by Ryan McMahon but he blasted the rebound past the helpless Sean Gallagher.
An Alan Russell point following excellent work by Darragh Hoey was soon cancelled out by Connor McHugh who broke from deep and evaded three tackles to hit the point of the half to leave the half-time score Realt na Mara 1-06 Milford 1-04.
Bundoran increased their advantage straight from the throw in when Michael McEniff broke away to feed Hoey who fired over from an acute angle.
Another lung-busting run from Russell saw his effort come off the post and from the resultant move Kane Barrett hit an inspirational score.Milford dominated the next 5 minutes and Bundoran had their goalkeeper Ashley Mulhern to thank on 2 occasions with superb saves from Black and McHugh.Milfords period of dominance was eventually rewarded with quickfire scores from McHugh and a wonder score from Kane Barrett to level the scores 1-07 apiece.
A subdued Jamie Brennan who came into the game carrying a knock was being well marshalled by TJ Evesson but he finally got his name on the scoresheet with two quickfire points the second from a free.
Daragh Black pegged one back on 40 minutes but it was soon cancelled out by Clancy after good work by Peter McGonigle and McCaughey.
The scores were flowing at this stage and a great score from Luke Barrett was soon replied to by the McEniff brothers to leave the homeside 1-12 to 1-09 ahead.
With McCaughey now in on the edge of the square he supplied Brennan with the ammunition to score his third point .
Then on 52 minutes Govorovs solo effort put the game to bed and left a seven-point margin between the sides.
Milford began to empty their bench but it was Bundoran who would hit the next two scores an effortless 45m strike from Clancy and a point from play from sub Diarmuid Spratt.
Kane Barrett reduced the deficit with a close in free before Govorov and Brennan increased the Seasiders advantage with time running out.
Ciaran McCaughey doubled his tally with a fisted effort from a speculative Shane McGowan effort to finish Bundorans scoring for the day.
The final score of the game came from Ronan Doherty for a disappointed Milford outfit.
Bundoran will be encouraged by their last two performances and both sides will look on with great interest at the round four draw for different reasons one with one having an eye on the quarter-finals whilst the other trying to avoid the relegation play-offs.
Bundoran: Ashley Mulhern; Matthew Duffy, Johnny Boyle, Niall Carr; Oisin Walsh, Peter McGonigle, Alan Russell (0-1); Michael McEniff (1-1), Ciaran McCaughey (0-2); Shane McGowan, Timmy Govorov (1-3), Jamie Brennan (0-4); Darragh Hoey,(0-01) Gary Clancy (0-04), Cian McEniff (0-1). Subs: Diarmuid Spratt (0-1) for Hoey (43), Tommy Hourihane for McCaughey (60).
Milford: Sean Gallagher; Peter Curran, James Doyle, TJ Evesson; Shay Durning, Ryan McMahon, Conor Coll; Luke Barrett,(0-01) Rory O’Donnell; Matthew McLaughlin (0-01), Christopher Barrett, Connor McHugh (0-2); Darragh Black (0-1), Cathal McGettigan (0-1), Kane Barrett (1-5). Subs: Martin Doyle for McGettigan (25), Ronan Doherty for Durning (44), Dylan Dorrian for Curran (50), Lorcan Friel for McLaughlin (53).
Referee: Seamus McGonagle (Aodh Ruadh)
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