IT was a case of mission accomplished for Peter Canavan as he steered Cavan Gaels to a 13th SFC title at the expense of 14-man Kingscourt Stars In front of a bumper crowd of 5,473 fans at Kingspan Breffni Park, Canavan was left to sweat it out before former Railway Cup player Micheal Lyng calmly fisted over the winner in the dying seconds.
Canavan's bid to make his maiden journey with the match favourites a glorious one got a huge fillip in the 12th minute when Kingscourt went down to 14 men.
Referee O'Reilly flashed a red card at centre-back Padraig Faulkner, deeming him to have followed through on Levi Murphy as a Gaels' attack was being brewed, but only after consulting linesman Joe McQuillan.
Undeterred, Kingscourt took the game to the match favourites, doubtless emboldened by the confidence of their 0-18 to 0-9 league win from a couple of months ago.
Entering injury-time, Kingscourt were on level terms, 0-15 apiece, but up stepped the loose-limbed Lyng in the 62nd minute to leave Canavan a very relieved man at the death.
"Luckily for us we had two old heads in Eamonn [Reilly] and Mickey [Lyng] to work the ball in along the end line, keep their composure and grab the winner for us," said the former Tyrone star.
"Kingscourt are a quality side and I was afraid that the 14-man syndrome would come back to haunt us because I've seen it myself so many times myself over the years.
"The lads showed a lot of hunger though and I'm delighted to have won the championship with them in my first year.
"We'll celebrate for a wee bit now and hopefully give the provincial club championship a good rattle."
After a spring-heeled start by the Gaels, the tide seemed to turn the Stars' way when Kieran Gorman's precision foot-pass picked out Anthony Corcoran and in a jiffy, the latter split the posts to catapult the Stars into the lead, 0-4 to 0-2, for the first time.
As the first quarter gathered pace it seemed that the "14-man syndrome" was about to kick in.
Kingscourt continued to show the workrate of a Sherpa heading up Mount Everest, with captain Alan Clarke and half-forward Philip Tinnelly simply inspirational.
A neat, efficient point by Leitrim native Christy McGowan, plus one from the unerring Barry Reilly (24) suddenly left the Gaels trailing by 0-4 to 0-6 and almost seeing stars.
The county town side had resilience in abundance though and a point - sourced deep in the Gaels' backline - was finished off by Seanie Johnston who, for once, escaped the attentions of Thomas Wakely.
Canavan's crew began the second half 0-7 to 0-8 adrift, but began with the same dash and gusto that characterised their opening salvo.
Points from Maloney-Derham and Declan Meehan found the target inside the first 90 seconds to leave Kingscourt trailing by the odd point in 17.
But the word replay seemed to be stamped all over the tie, with shining Star Anthony Corcoran firing over the black spot to leave the sides deadlocked (0-12 apiece) by the three-quarter hour mark.
The Gaels very nearly sealed the deal in the 53rd minute but Paul Graham's daisy-cutter went just inches wide of the butt of the post.
Cavan Gaels sub Vinny Coyle pointed but then fellow sub Cian McArdle's point on the hour mark for the Stars left the sides level for the eighth time in the game.
A replay looked odds-on but Lyng had other ideas and after a textbook one-two with captain Reilly, the number 11 fisted over the black spot and punched the air to the echo of a thunderous roar from the stand.
MATCH STATS
Cavan Gaels: M Cassidy; N Gurhy, J Fortune, N Murray; S Murray (0-1), E Reilly (0-1),
L Murphy; D Reilly, R Maloney-Derham (0-1); D Meehan (0-2), M Lyng (0-2), D Graham;
S Johnston (0-6, 0-3 frees), A Graham, C McClarey (0-1). Subs: B Fortune (0-1) for
L Murphy (13); V Coyle (0-1) for A Graham (21); P Graham for D Graham (HT); M Dunne for D Reilly (48); K Meehan for D Meehan (62).
Kingscourt: J Farrrelly; R Sheridan, T Wakely, S Grey; B Tully (0-1), P Faulkner, K McCabe; A Clarke, K Gorman; P Tinnelly, C McGowan (0-2), M McGovern; B Reilly (0-9,7f, two 45), P Smith, A Corcoran (0-2). Subs: C Smith for K Gorman (27); T Malone for P Smith (black card, 41); JP Reilly for M McGovern (45);
P Farrelly for S Grey (53); Cian McArdle (0-1) for R Sheridan (57); R Carey for
C McGowan (59).
Ref: Oliver Og O'Reilly (Mullahoran)
n PARTY TIME: Cavan Gaels players Eamonn Reilly and Martin Dunne celebrate victory over Kingscourt Stars in yesterday's Cavan SFC final at Kingspan Breffni Park. RIGHT: Gaels boss Peter Canavan joins in the celebrations Pictures: Colm O'Reilly