Cavan Senior Football Championship: Crosserlough 2-12 Kingscourt Stars 2-12
From Andy Watters at Kingspan Breffni
SO, who has the momentum for the replay? Crosserlough twice had one hand on the trophy that has eluded them since 1972 and Kingscourt had one foot in the grave at seven points down but battled back to the brink of victory only to get caught at the finish line...
A thoroughly-entertaining, quality game of football ended in stalemate and it's back to the start next weekend.
Crosserlough manager Jimmy Higgins admitted he was "relieved" to get another go.
"When there's a minute or two left and you're two points down (you'd take a draw)," he said.
"The lads have shown character in this championship and we knew they would create another chance, whether we would take it or not was the question and we did. When you're two points down and you come out with a draw, you take it and move on.
"They (Kingscourt) will have positives out of it and so will we and we'll plan for next week. They'll look at their comeback and they'll have momentum out of that and we'll look at the end and we'll have momentum out of that but this game is not going to dictate what happens next week."
Perhaps it won't dictate the replay, but it will influence it and Kingscourt will be confident that if they hit the ground running they have the game to win it. Their manager David Lennon joked that the nail-biter "wasn't good for the heart" and the word he used to sum up his feelings was "disappointed".
"We felt we had enough done to get over the line," he said.
"But it's never over until the referee blows that final whistle and we stopped playing for the last couple of minutes. We maybe thought we had the job done. You have to give credit to Crosserlough, they looked in serious trouble but they got the draw when the chips were down."
Indeed they did and the pity is that there were so few people in the ground to see it. Cavan town is normally buzzing on county final day but, on Saturday, the streets were quiet, the bars looked empty and it was left to the lucky few who got tickets to create the atmosphere this breathless battle deserved.
The first point was on the board after less that 30 seconds, the first roar of: 'Ach wud yiz put it (the ball) in?' rang out after less than a minute.
Kingscourt goalkeeper Darragh McKenna fished the ball out of his net as the whistle went for the first water break. It had just been smashed past him by Adrian Smith to cap 15 minutes of almost total Crosserlough dominance.
Adrian, started and finished the scoring, but it was midfielder James (one of six Smiths in the squad) who caught the eye with a virtuoso performance. He absolutely lorded it and the possession he gobbled up for playmaker Stephen Smith to use led to a steady stream of scores for his side.
Patrick Lynch (a free and then a mark), James himself and Brendan Boylan (another mark) all registered points before inside-forward Adrian Smith took advantage of the space Kingscourt left in front of their posts. He broke for a ball from Stephen Smith before hammering a shot into the net and at the whistle it was 1-5 to 0-1 - Kingscourt's sole score was a Barry Reilly free.
But this was the proverbial half of two quarters and Kingscourt hauled themselves back into the game in the second. By the break there was only three points in it. Kevin Curtis had slotted over a mark and Reilly added two more points (including his side's first from play) before Padraig Faulker (who had by now restricted James Smith's influence after an unproductive spell at full-forward) took a pass from Phillip Tinnelly, bulldozed through a couple of tackles and smashed a shot past Brian Malocca.
It was 'game on' for the second half which began with Crosserlough 1-7 to 1-4 ahead and Cian Boylan doubled that when he lashed the ball into the Kingscourt net in the first attack.
But the fluency and space Crosserlough had enjoyed in the first half was gone and Kingscourt, blotted out the space, got their defensive match-ups right and tagged on six points (including three from Reilly) to just one to leave just a point in it. Reilly was excellent and the pace of wing-back John Oates and Barry Tully also impressed in the fightback but it was Curtis who got his fist to a high ball into the square to score the goal that gave his side the lead for the first time at 2-10 to 2-8.
Lynch nailed a free but Kingscourt were able to reply every time their opponents narrowed the gap and, when Cian Shekleton stood just to left of the posts with the ball in his hands, Crosserlough must have thought the end had come.
A fan in the stands watched through his sweaty fingers as he kicked it, then cursed as the ball drifted wide and Crosserlough lived to fight another day when midfielder Mark Stuart got forward to kick the equaliser.
Who has the momentum for the replay? Kingscourt, just about.
Crosserlough: B Malocca; J Cooke, P O'Reilly, D Shalvey (0-1); S McVeety, C Rehill, C Boylan (1-0); M Stuart (0-1), J Smith (0-1); S McManus, B Boylan (0-1 mark), D Gaffney; A Smith (1-1), P Lynch (0-6, 0-3 frees, 0-3 marks), S Smith (0-1)
Subs: P Smith for B Boylan (40), R Galligan for Gaffney (47), Peter Smith for A Smith (58), E Boylan for McVeety (64)
Yellow cards: McVeety (45), Gaffney (46)
Kingscourt Stars: D McKenna; C McKeown, A Clarke, K Farrelly; S Duffy, P Meade, J Oates; S Burke, P Corrigan (0-1); B Tully (0-1), P Tinnelly (0-1), K Curtis (1-1, 0-1 mark); C Shekleton (0-1 free), P Faulkner (1-0), B Reilly (0-7, 0-4 frees)
Subs: O Cunningham for Burke (47)
Yellow card: Tinnelly (55)
Referee: Conor Dourneen
