Cavan Gaels 1-13
Mullahoran 0-10

Champions Cavan Gaels moved into their 11th consecutive county senior football championship final at the expense of rivals Mullahoran yesterday at Kingspan Breffni Park.

A completely superior second-half performance proved the difference here for the Cavan town side, as the teams had went in level on 0-5 apiece after Mullahoran made a blistering start to the game.

The Dreadnoughts raced 0-4 to nothing clear in the opening ten minutes, with frees from Enda O'Reilly and Philip Brady establishing a three-point lead before the latter raced through the centre of the Gaels' defence and fired over the first from play.

Sean Johnston had a goal chance cleared off the line by James O'Reilly for the holders, who got off the mark two minutes shy of the quarter with a sweet point from their county ace.

Johnston doubled his tally a minute later with a coolly struck free, but O'Reilly cancelled that out from a similar position down the far end before a goal chance for Brady went by the wayside after a fine interception from Gaels defender Marc Leddy.

Niall Murray, who was in fine form in front of goal at number 14, and Johnston (free) cut the deficit to one with five minutes to go in the half in which time Murray added another from play to send the teams in all square at the break.

Johnston stroked his third free of the afternoon to hand the Gaels their first lead a minute into the restart and just three minutes later Mullahoran's frailties at the back would be badly exposed.

A quick free from Michael Lyng allowed Martin Dunne time and space to run at the opposition's defence and when his quick pass set Dominic Reilly through the centre the midfielder made no mistake in flashing the ball past goalkeeper Eamonn Brady to the left top-corner much to the delight of the Gaels' contingent.

Mullahoran were left playing catch-up after that as Murray tapped over his third point in the next attack, but, to their credit, they responded well as Paul and Philip Brady won frees for O'Reilly to shoot over with his trusty left boot and narrow the deficit back to one with 15 minutes remaining.

However, the next ten minutes, crucially, belonged to the champions as Conor McClarey sent over a nice point, just seconds after coming on as a substitute, and Johnston added two more for good measure (one from a free).

The Gaels emptied their bench in the closing stages, sending on Declan Meehan, who was involved in a bizarre dispute with his own team-mate Enda King shortly after his introduction, Karl Crotty and Paul O'Donnell, while Mullahoran brought in Peter Paul Galligan, who, arguably, kicked the score of this clash from all of 50 metres to cancel-out Johnston's third from play.

It was mere consolation for the Killydoon men though as Pauric Smith was allowed to run through from wing-back for another score for the Blues, before veteran Danny Brady struck an injury-time penalty wide having come on as a replacement for Michael Brady.

Cavan Gaels are now set to meet Kingscourt Stars in the decider on September 26, as they bid for a fourth successive Oliver Plunkett Cup success and an incredible seventh county final triumph in eight years.

Cavan Gaels - E Elliot; M Leddy, C Collins, D McCormack; G Duffy (0-1), E Reilly, P Smith (0-1); E King, D Reilly (1-0); A Forde, M Lyng, N Smith; S Johnston (0-7, 4f), N Murray (0-3), M Dunne. Subs: C McClarey (0-1), D Meehan, K Crotty, P O'Donnell.

Mullahoran - E Brady; J Reilly, S Smith, D King; D Smith, K Brady, M Brady; C Shiels, D Sheridan; Paul Brady, Paddy Brady, T Nannery; R Lynch, Philip Brady (0-3, 2f), E O'Reilly (0-6, 6f). Subs: E Dalton, PP Galligan (0-1), D Brady. Tweet

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