O'Reilly holds his head
by Paul Fitzpatrick Updated: Wednesday, 28th July, 2010 11:54am
Paul Brady rises against Belturbet. Pic: A Donohoe
Belturbet 0-10
Mullahoran 0-10
A strange, strange match in Breffni Park. One side totally dominating for three-quarters of the game, yet needing a late free to salvage a draw. One official signalling a minute of injury time, another allowing two minutes and 40 seconds to elapse before sounding the long whistle.
And most of all, two of the favourites to challenge Cavan Gaels' hegemony producing such a poor contest, providing more questions than answers to the solution of this championship riddle.
Perhaps plain old stats are the easiest way to explain this one. Mullahoran kicked eight wides in the first 20 minutes, won 11 kick-outs to Belturbet's one in the first half yet went in just two points up, 0-6 to 0-4.
The profligacy continued after the break, with the Dreadnoughts, who finished with an astonishing 20 wides (with Paul and Philip Brady, despite tormenting the Rorys' defence, the chief culprits), on top all over the field but unable to score.
Belturbet talisman Jason O'Reilly, starved of possession, was anonymous from play and didn't gain a meaningful touch of the ball until the 41st minute, but - helped by some soft frees - his side finally put some decent moves together and, after two Philip Brady frees had opened a 0-8 to 0-4 lead for Mullahoran in the third minute of the second half, they scored 0-6 without reply to, incredible as it seemed at one stage, lead by two with four minutes to play.
It had all seemed so different early on. Powered on by Christy Sheils, who put in a very good shift, and Dermot Sheridan, Mullahoran bombarded the Belturbet rearguard for the first quarter.
With Fergal Brady, Killian Brady and Tomás Nannery scooping up a lot of breaking ball, they spurned three good scoring chances before Philip Brady grabbed their opener, a great point from the right wing, in the ninth minute.
By that stage, the Rorys were already two up, earning two frees from their only two attacks, both of which were converted by Jason O'Reilly. Further wides followed before Belturbet edged further in front with an excellent point from play by centre-forward Kevin McConnell.
Two more wides followed for the Dreadnoughts, who were in complete control and eventually got a second from a Philip Brady free. Brady was fortunate to get the call as he appeared to have already lost possession but he slotted over without fuss, and added another three minute later - a left-footed effort from play - to level it up.
Jason O'Reilly (free) and Paul Brady, by now operating on the edge of the square and fielding well, exchanged points and a good score from Enda O'Reilly made it 6-4 at the break.
Two Philip Brady frees made it 0-8 to 0-4 early in the second half as it looked as though Mullahoran would kick on.
Not so. Two frees for 'Jayo' moved the Rorys closer and, having been bossed until that point, their confidence visibly grew.
A very harsh free against Mullahoran allowed Jason to go short and set up McConnell for a long-range point and the equaliser duly arrived in the 22nd minute when Johnny Higgins raced on to a break and slotted over well.
Belturbet weren't done yet, either. With momentum on their side, they took the lead with a brilliant score on the run from Gareth Fitzpatrick and a Jason O'Reilly free made it 0-10 to 0-8 in the 56th minute.
But back came Mullahoran. Enda O'Reilly stepped up with a good point from play in the 28th minute to make it a one-point game before the same player, an unused sub on the county minor panel in their recent Ulster semi-final defeat to Armagh, was entrusted with the job of grabbing a share of the spoils with a very tough kick from the right wing.
The stopwatch said 32 minutes, 20 seconds as O'Reilly watched his late, late pressure kick split the posts before wheeling away in delight. The fact that only one minute of added on time had been announced was irrelevant - the grumbles of the Belturbet supporters, if there were any, were barely audible.
They knew that while their side may have been hard done by at the death - there was no question mark over the foul, rather the amount of time played - in reality, they had got out of jail after a sub-standard performance.
Yes, they battled hard but it will take more than that if the Rorys are to make an impact this season. Mullahoran, for their part, played well in most positions but their shooting, as it was against Kingscourt in the league, was atrocious.
MULLAHORAN: E Brady, J Reilly, S Smith, D King, D Smith, K Brady, F Brady, C Shiels, D Sheridan, Paul Brady (0-1), Paddy Brady, T Nannery, D Brady, Philip Brady (0-6, 4f), E O'Reilly (0-3, 1f)
SUB: R Lynch for D Brady (46)
BELTURBET: D Greene, S Murphy, D O'Reilly, P Shannon, G McDonald, E McGuigan, JJ Murphy, J Higgins (0-1), O Donohoe, M Teevan, K McConnell (0-2), J Klusch, J O'Reilly (0-6f), G Fitzpatrick (0-1), C Rudden
SUB: C Walsh for Murphy (h/t)
REF: R Kelly (Knockbride)
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