Mullahoran 1-9
Kingscourt 1-8

Mullahoran drew first blood in the Cavan senior football championship tonight with a late victory over Kingscourt Stars at Kingspan Breffni Park.

As thrilling as it was, this win may have come at a huge cost for Gerry Cadden's charges, as a neck injury sustained by star forward Enda O'Reilly midway through the first-half could see him ruled out for some time.

O'Reilly had to leave the field in an ambulance after shipping a heavy blow to the head/neck area, which forced the game to be stopped for a little more than 20 minutes as paramedics arrived to take the former county U21 ace to Cavan General Hospital.

By that stage, Kingscourt had held a 0-4 to 0-2 lead which they'd surrender by half-time as their opponents found some rhythm when the game resumed to draw level, and once substitute Shane Shiels nudged them ahead in the 33rd minute they wouldn't look back until the hour mark.

PP Galligan's 37th minute goal gave them the distance they needed to keep Kingscourt at bay and despite Niall Lynch's men gaining a fortuitous goal in injury-time, their counterparts showed tremendous resolve to grind out one last chance which Paul Brady snatched at full-forward.

Kingscourt's splendid start showed no signs of them losing this contest, running up a 0-4 to nothing lead inside seven minutes. Full-forward Philly Smith got the ball rolling for them two minutes in and Darragh Gunne found plenty of space to double the advantage by the fourth.

Philip Tinnelly put the Dreadnoughts further adrift and when some slick interchange inside saw Ryan Carey send Smith through for his second the Meath border men looked primed for an early cushion heading for the second quarter. A 13-metre free from O'Reilly, earned by Paul Brady at full-forward, broke Mullahoran's duck in the 12th minute. Brady would add his side's first from play, cutting the deficit to two, before proceedings came to a halt with the injury to O'Reilly.

Having spent some 15 of the 22 minutes of stoppage in the dressing rooms, the teams resumed and it was Mullahoran whom were quicker out of the traps despite the major losses of O'Reilly and injured centre-back Paddy Brady. Through Galligan's single and a sweetly struck free from Sean McKeogh, Brady's replacement, the Killydoon outfit were level.

Kingscourt regained the lead via their trusty free-taker Reilly, but it was short lived as Sheils calmly stroked another at the other end to send the sides in again; this time all square on 0-5 apiece.

Lynch introduced Tomas Malone and Mark McGovern to his attack for the start of the second-half, but the early stages saw the Stars fall behind for the first time as Sheils was on hand to convert a handy free for his team.

Reilly soon erased that with his second placed ball. However, a huge swing would come Mullahoran's way seven minutes into the resumption when Kingscourt's last line didn't deal with a routine clearance and it saw the ball pop up perfectly for a lurking Galligan on the edge of the square. From there, the big number 11 made no mistake in finding the net much to the delight of the Dreadnoughts' contingent.

Both sides went cold on the scoring front after that, failing to raise an umpire's flag for some 17 minutes, as defences consistently came out on top. Paul Brady eventually ended the drought in the 54th minute and when his brother Philip came off the bench to land a rousing score from the left flank Mullahoran looked home and dry.

Barry Tully's breakaway point with three minutes to go was the first in 20 minutes for the town side but they were handed a late lifeline on the hour when Reilly's long range point effort somehow ended up in the Mullahoran net.

With the game stretched into injury-time, Kingscourt scrapped for the next possession and fed Reilly once more down the left where he released Tully and the defender composed himself to slot over the leveller.

Another date between these two contenders looked to be set until a last gasp chance from Philip Brady came down off the upright and his handball champion sibling was sharp to the rebound, sealing the victory with his fist.

Mullahoran: Dominic Crudden; Matthew Hynes, Noel Brady, Seanie Smith; Raymond Lynch, Paddy Brady, James O'Reilly; Killian Brady, Tadgh McGahern; Damien McArdle, PP Galligan (1-1), Tomas Nannery; Enda O'Reilly (0-1, 1f), Paul Brady (0-3), Jason Donoghue. Subs: Shane Sheils (0-2, 2f)for E O'Reilly (17mins, inj), Sean McKeogh (0-1) for Paddy Brady (17, inj), Chris Prior for J Donoghue (48), Philip Brady (0-1) for T Nannery (55), Daniel Smith for D McArdle (58).

Kingscourt: James Farrelly; Rory Sheridan, Shane Grey, Keith McCabe; Barry Tully (0-2), Alan Clarke, Philip Tinnelly (0-1); Terry Reilly, Ciaran Gorman; Ryan Carey, Christy McGowan, Paddy Farrelly; Darragh Gunne (0-1), Philly Smith (0-2), Barry Reilly (1-2, 2f). Subs: Tomas Malone for R Carey (HT), Mark McGovern for P Farrelly (HT), Thomas Wakely for T Reilly (43), Peter Corrigan for T Malone (52), Ruairi O'Rourke for D Gunne (58).

Ref: Kieran McCarville (Cootehill)

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