Gaels' power-packed finish sinks Ballinagh

Senior Football Championship

Cavan Gaels 4-13

Ballinagh 0-16

Paul Fitzpatrick at Crowe Park

Cavan Gaels came up with a power-packed last 20 minutes to put Ballinagh to the sword in this entertaining SFC clash in Lacken on Sunday afternoon.

The final scoreline is deceiving. After 44 minutes, Ballinagh held a 0-15 to 1-8 lead; on the 57 minutes, the sides were still level but the Gaels had all the momentum and they kicked on from there.

Over the final 15 minutes plus seven minutes of added time, Cavan Gaels out-scored Ballinagh by 3-5 to 0-1 but for a long time, it looked as if they were in trouble.

Key to their resurgence was the introduction of subs Niall and Stephen Murray at half-time. Gearoid McKiernan also came up with big scores when needed, including a brilliantly-taken goal which gave the town side the lead approaching the hour-mark.

Ballinagh started on the front foot; Thomas Moore won the throw-in and Kevin Smith pointed after 10 seconds. Three minutes in, though, Cavan Gaels landed their first goal.

Paul Graham picked out brother Andy for a mark; he cleverly took it quickly and found Niall Smith, who beat goalkeeper Eoghan McGrath to the ball and flicked it to the empty net.

Ballinagh responded well with a great point from the impressive Shane Finnegan before McKiernan knocked over his first after a good run from Emmanuel Shehu.

Padraic O’Reilly, in space, replied at the other end before Shane Finnegan punished a foul on Niall McDermott with a long-range free.

Paul Graham pointed with a great strike. Ballinagh replied with an excellent left-footed effort from Thomas Smith but Luke Molloy landed a fine individual effort to edge the Gaels head by one.

Ballinagh dominated the final 10 minutes of the first half. Aaron Reilly sent over after a good move started by McGrath, McDermott converted a free and Shane Finnegan curled in another to make it 0-8 to 1-3.

Two points for McKiernan (one free) tied the game again but Ballinagh registered through McDermott (mark), Thomas Smith and a 40-metre Finnegan free to go in leading by 0-11 to 1-5.

The Gaels took their time re-emerging for the second half but drew first blood with a Paul Graham point. Another long-range Finnegan free followed along with Thomas Smith belting over another super effort from play as Ballinagh led by four.

Niall Murray, who was influential in the second half, sent over an important point but it was cancelled out by a Finnegan free. The young attacker then dropped one short and Thomas Smith registered a wide; in hindsight, these relatively poor misses were crucial.

Cavan Gaels regrouped and showed resilience from that point on. Frees from Niall Murray and McKiernan sandwiched a right-footed McDermott score from play.

The Gaels were by now turning the screw. They hit the upright twice, then Paul Graham, McKiernan (free) and Murray (free, after a foul on Jack Tully) raised white flags to tie the game.

And when McKiernan drove through the middle and sent a brilliant shot to the top corner, the writing was on the wall.

Ballinagh replied quickly with a well-taken point from Moore but the Gaels seemed to have more in the legs and they kicked for home. McKiernan played a one-two with Martin Dunne and split the posts again.

He then lobbed in the ball in for Molloy to palm to the net in the 67th minute. Moments later, on an overlap, Kevin Meehan squared and sub Bradley Okaidja also palmed in – and that was that.

The Ballinagh full-back line had been outstanding all game but the loss of Patrick Carroll to injury with 15 minutes to go unsettled them. However, Cavan Gaels deserve huge credit for digging deep and they played their best stuff when it was needed.

Cavan Gaels: Alan O’Riordan, Eoghan Galligan, Barry Fortune, Shane Fortune, Darragh Sexton, Kevin Meehan, Niall Smith (1-0), Luke Molloy (1-1), Gearoid McKiernan (1-6, 3f), Luke Fortune, Padraig Sexton, Paul Graham (0-3), Emmanuel Shehu, Jack Tully, Andrew Graham

Subs: Niall Murray (0-3, 2f), Stephen Murray, Daniel Graham, Martin Dunne, Bradley Okaidja (1-0)

Ballinagh: Eoghan McGrath, Evan Finnegan, Patrick Carroll, Aaron Reilly (0-1), Niall O’Reilly, Cormac Timoney, Paddy O’Brien, Padraic O’Reilly (0-1), Thomas Moore (0-1), Kevin Smith, David Finnegan, Shane Finnegan (0-6, 4f), Thomas Smith (0-3), Niall McDermott (0-3, 1f, 1m), Kyle Tyler

Subs: Damien Reilly, Ronan O’Reilly, Philip Bogue

Ref: Oliver Óg O’Reilly