Castlerahan 0-16
Arva 0-13

Castlerahan timed their finish to perfection tonight to see off Arva and claim a first round victory in the senior championship at Kingspan Breffni.

Cian McEnroe, Paul Smith (2) and Cian Mackey hit the vital scores in the closing six minutes at the Cavan town venue to ensure Donal Keogan's charges got their campaign off to a winning start, having been denied after a replay in last year's final.

Arva only had three scorers over the hour but, in fairness, 0-10 of their tally came from full-forward Conal Sheridan, who, needless to say, was in exceptional form here as his contribution kept the intermediate champions in the hunt throughout and they had been leading with four minutes left in regulation.

Having trailed by one at the break and by two on the third quarter mark, Peter Reilly's men stormed in front with points from Sheridan (2) and Jonathan McCabe and got their noses in front again in the 56th minute before Castlerahan's aforementioned trio reeled them in in the closing stages.

Cian McEnroe's pair of frees inside five minutes looked to have settled the victors into this contest, but the Tommy Gilroy Cup holders hit back through three accurate efforts from Sheridan to seize the lead.

Oisin O'Connell tied things up on 11 minutes for the Ballyjamesduff men and they'd be back in the ascendancy through Stephen Cooney's fine effort before midfielder Fergal Reilly doubled their advantage.

Danny Ellis's evening would come to an end early when he was black-carded in the 16th minute, affording his sibling Stephen an early introduction, as McEnroe and Sheridan traded more frees to keep the difference at two with 10 minutes remaining in the half.

Arva gathered a bit of momentum soon afterwards, with McCabe sailing over ahead of that man Sheridan (2, 1 a free) giving them the lead, but it was the men in maroon that finished out the half in much better fashion.

A slick break forward afforded Mackey the time and space to shoot his first point ahead of Cavan team mate Reilly closing the half at 0-8 to 0-7 in favour of last year's beaten finalists.

Sheridan (free) had things even again two minutes into the restart with Mackey responding in kind before uncharacteristically pulling back-to-back efforts wide of the posts.

Some slick inter-change saw McEnroe arrive on cue to eventually double Keogan's men's lead on 44 minutes, prior to Brian Ellis seeing his sole point for the night cancelled by Mackey carving a brilliant pass to release Pauric Smith, who dually slotted over in plenty of room.

The Longford/Leitrim border outfit got their 10th and 11th points from the deadly Sheridan to square things for the sixth time with 12 minutes left on the clock and a powerful drive from McCabe gave them back the lead after he'd shot over from his centre-forward station.

Sheridan's 10th of the night nullified a left-footed Mackey free and saw Arva with the lead with four minutes left in regulation.

Peter Reilly's side would shut off on the scoreboard thereafter though and Castlerahan would draw matters heading for injury-time after O'Connell and Reilly combined to earn a free for McEnroe, who held his nerve.

Paul Smith registered the lead point with the help of Richard Keith's finger-tips and when Mackey cut through for a fisted point the Balyjamesduff contingent were well and truly humming.

Some patient build-up play afforded Smith the time and space to ensure the win in the third minute of injury-time, as Arva's brave effort fell short in the end.

Castlerahan: Jamie Leahy; Stephen Cooney (0-1), Ronan Flanagan, Enda O'Connell; Paul Smith (0-2), Oisin Kiernan, Pauric Smith (0-1); Brian Coleman, Fergal Reilly (0-2); Cian McEnroe (0-5, 3f), Cian Mackey (0-4, 2f), Gavin Daly; Enda Flanagan, Cormac Daly, Oisin O'Connell (0-1). Subs: Karl Kiernan for B Coleman (23mins), Daniel Lynch for G Daly (53).

Arva: Richard Keith, Ryan Magarahan, James Morris, Danny Ellis, Finbar McAvinue, Dermot McGlade, Shane Hamilton; Fergal McGlade, Ciaran Brady; Peter Morris, Jonathan McCabe (0-2), Kevin Bouchier; Cormac McCabe, Conal Sheridan (0-10, 7f), Brian Ellis (0-1). Subs: Stephen Ellis for B Ellis (16mins, BC), Ciaran Cooney for B Ellis (55).

Ref: Noel Mooney (Cavan Gaels)

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