Mullahoran 0-10
Belturbet 0-10

By Shane Corrigan
at Kingspan Breffni Park

A coolly struck Enda O'Reilly free saved Mullahoran a draw against Belturbet in the dying stages of last night's senior football championship first round clash at Kingspan Breffni Park.

In a game which was very much of two halves, Mullahoran should have been cruising at half-time after erasing their opponents' early 0-3 to 0-1 lead to storm two points clear come the interval but an array of missed chances cost them dearly.

Filling the boots of the absent Eddie O'Reilly, full-forward Philip Brady doubled the Dreadnoughts' advantage early on in the turn over but his team failed to kick on after that and it allowed the spirited town side to own the next 15 minutes, with only two late scores from the left boot of O'Reilly to deny them the victory.

Belturbet made a sound start to this game as talisman Jason O'Reilly pointed the first lead inside 50 seconds from a free and the veteran attacker doubled it three minutes later in similar fashion.

Mullahoran got off the mark through Philip Brady in the eighth minute, which Kevin McConnell cancelled-out three minutes later after being released by Johnny Klusch, but that didn't discourage the former champions in the slightest.

After Paul Brady - now operating on the edge of the square - and Dermot Sheridan blasted scoring chances wide, Philip Brady fired over three points in the space of five minutes to send Mullahoran to a first lead.

An O'Reilly free down the other end leveled, before a high ball in from Sheridan was fetched by Paul Brady, who blazed his goal effort just over David Greene's crossbar, and an Enda O'Reilly point from no distance closed the half at 0-6 to 0-4 in Mullahoran's favour.

Knowing they should have been out of sight at this stage, Darren Chapman's charges grafted in the early stages of the restart and doubled their advantage within three minutes thanks to two more frees from Brady. They had the chance to stretch it to six, but sent two more chances wide which helped put the wind in the Rories' sails.

After having what seemed a perfectly good goal from Klusch disallowed by referee Raymond Kelly for 'a square ball', Belturbet broke a 20-minute scoring drought with an O'Reilly free to leave just a score between the teams.

Damien O'Reilly's switch from full-back to centre-back would pay massive dividends for Belturbet, as the former county minor was given the license to attack Mullahoran's rearguard and it warranted another free for O'Reilly to strike and trim the deficit to two.

The momentum was firmly with the men in maroon at this stage and overs from McConnell and Johnny Higgins tied things up with ten minutes to go and they had no intentions of letting up.

A quick McConnell free into the speedy Gareth Fitzpatrick saw the number 14 turn his man in a flash and steer the ball between the posts off his left and when Mark Teevan won a free in front of goal for O'Reilly to tap over the finish-line was in sight for Belturbet.

However, Mullahoran rallied in the closing minutes with Paul Brady unlucky to see a shot come off the upright and Enda O'Reilly bringing it back to a one-point game after squeezing over a shot around a swarm of defenders.

A minute into added time, Sheridan dropped a long range free short but Belturbet could only clear as far as Paul Brady and he found O'Reilly down the right, where the young attacker was dragged down by Peter Shannon, who picked up a second caution, and the resultant free was struck with precision to leave nothing between the teams come the long whistle.

Mullahoran - Eamonn Brady; James Reilly, Seanie Smith, Daniel King; Daniel Smith, Killian Brady, Fergal Brady; Christy Shiels, Dermot Sheridan; Paul Brady (0-1), Paddy Brady, Tomas Nannery; Danny Brady, Philip Brady (0-6, 4f), Enda O'Reilly (0-3, 1f). Sub: Raymond Lynch

Belturbet - David Greene; Stuart Murphy, Damien O'Reilly, Peter Shannon; Garrett McDonald, Eoin McGuigan, JJ Murphy; Johnny Higgins (0-1), Ollie Donohoe; Mark Teevan, Kevin McConnell (0-2), Johnny Klusch; Jason O'Reilly (0-6, 6f), Gareth Fitzpatrick (0-1), Cormac Rudden. Sub: Conor Walsh

Ref: Raymond Kelly Tweet

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