Cuchulainns bench hits three in hard-fought win

IFC round 1

Cuchulainns 0-10

Belturbet 1-5

Bryan Magee, Cormac O’Reilly and Micheál Kenny sent over the last three points of the game for Cuchulainns to see Fintan Cahill’s side hold on for an opening round win. Belturbet, coming in as underdogs almost staged a perfect coup when Enda Henry hit the net two minutes from the end to leave just one between the sides but Cuchulainns held their nerve and scored two of the last three points of the game.

In a surprise tactic, Cuchulainns played periods of the first half with a full blanket of 15 players inside their half of the field despite playing with the wind at their backs. Belturbet also brought players back to protect the scoring zone but not to such an extreme. The result was that after 28 minutes of play in the first half, Cuchulainns held a single point lead in a three-point game.

Of the 16 scores in the game, half came from frees, leaving scores from open play all too rare with Henry’s goal becoming only the sixth score from open play in the 60 minutes of ordinary time. Both sides finished the game with less than 50% conversion rate as Cuchulainns missed 11 points (six wide, five dropped short) while Belturbet let 1-12 get away from them.

The opening score of the game came on the seventh minute when the top scorer, Enda Henry, was fouled and he unsurprisingly sent over the resulting free. In the opening exchanges Raymond Johnston’s side were on top in the possession steaks but chances were hard created.

In the ninth minute of the game the Rorys held the ball for an extended period, trying to find a gap in the wall. Cian Vaughan, the Belturbet keeper, at a point in this period joined the attack which meant all 30 players were inside the Cuchulainns half of the field but the defence won out in the end.

With 11 minutes on the clock Sean Kenny injected a bit of pace into a Cuchulainns attack and curled the ball over from 30 metres with his left foot. That shot was their second of the game and levelled the match at one apiece.

Cuchulainns took the lead in the 13th minute when midfielder Philip Smyth was fouled, and Evan Doughty converted the kick. The Mullagh-Cross side, becoming a little restless began to force their shots off, resulting in two scores from nine shots after 17 minutes of play with four shots dropping short into the Rorys’ goalmouth.

The crucial period of the game turned out to be the build up to half-time. In the final three minutes of the half, Cuchulainns tagged on three points to give them a little breathing room.

Turlough Farrelly sent over the first from a free on the 29th minute after Doughty was fouled. From the resulting kick-out, Cuchulainns won possession and Philip Smyth curled over a beautiful point from the right corner-forward position with the instep of his right boot.

Doughty was in a battle throughout with Fionnan O’Reilly and was finding it difficult to have his usual control on the game but two minutes into injury time he showed his class when he made just enough room to send over his first and only point from open play.

Referee Pat Clarke sounded the short whistle with Cuchulainns leading 0-5 to 0-1.

The second half started the same as the first with Belturbet looking the better side but unable to convert their possession into scores. In the opening 10 minutes of the second half the Rorys, hit two wides, the post and dropped two short before finally grabbing a score.

Once again it was Henry who stepped up winning and converting a free, ending a 32 minute spell without a score for his side. Belturbet players felt a few decisions were given against them in the wrong and their frustration resulted in a Cuchulainns free from outside their 45 being brought forward to the edge of the D. Doughty stepped up on the 14th minute and sent over his side’s first point of the half.

Two minutes later, after another wide for Belturbet, John Cahill won the Cuchulainns kick-out and worked it to Colm Dennehy who split the posts, leaving three between the sides. With 10 minutes to go, the game began to come to life, started by a well worked Cuchulainns counter-attack.

Mark Gilsenan broke out from the defence at speed and before Belturbet could set up, Farrelly had sent his shot over the bar on his left foot. Man of the Match Enda Henry responded by winning and converting another free but the score-for-score nature of the second half kept Belturbet at arm’s length.

Fresh off the bench, Byran Magee was handed a free to finish after Niall Carolan’s pace brought him to the 20-metre line where he was awarded a free. With the game entering the final minutes and consecutive points hard to come by, Belturbet needed a goal. Cian Vaughan went long with his restart, straight to the hands of Henry who turned his man and running direct at the Cuchulainns goal, he put it in the net but was called for over-carrying the ball.

The resilience of the Rorys showed when a rare long high ball to the Belturbet full-forward line by Mark Lawlor was brilliantly broke down by sub Donal McDonald into the path of Henry.

After carrying the ball 25 metres at speed, Henry rounded Conor Gallagher and rolled the ball to the back of the net to leave a single point between the sides.

Cuchulainns now needed to show their grit and they did. Within 60 seconds the white and blues had worked the ball to the scoring zone and with his very first touch of the game, Cormac O’Reilly slotted over a point as if he had been doing it all evening.

With the story far from over Belturbet bounced straight back from the kick-out. They found their talisman Henry, who was again fouled 30 metres from goal and he converted for the fourth time out of five attempts with the only one missed hitting the post.

With the game now in injury-time and the minimum separating the sides the decibels increased in the grounds. Looking to banish the memory of their league final defeat a few weeks ago gathered and held the ball, working it forward to the Belturbet 45 and then back to their own 45 as they managed the remaining seconds.

After drawing out the Belturbet defence, Cuchulainns found a gap and cleverly worked the ball to Michael Kenny who raised their tenth white flag but more importantly gave them a two-point lead which they saw out to the final whistle.

Cuchulainns: Conor Gallagher, Killian Lynch, Cian Donoghue, Josh Husband, Cian Doughty, Niall Carolan, Mark Gilsenan, Adrian Taite, Philip Smyth(0-1), Turlough Farrelly (0-2, 1f), Evan Doughty (0-3, 2f), Niall Magee, Sean Kenny (0-1), Adam O’Reilly, Glenn McCann

Subs: Michael Kenny (0-1) for A Taite, Bryan Magee (0-1f) for S Kenny, Cormac O’Reilly (0-1) for N Magee

Belturbet: Cian Vaughan, Killian Murray, Peter Shannon, Martin Donohoe, Mark Lawlor, Fionnan O’Reilly, Shane Fitzpatrick, Damien O’Reilly, Augustus Sailis, Kevin McConnell, Enda Henry (1-4, 4ff), Colm Dennehy (0-1), John Cahill, Cormac Donohoe, Calum McGreevy

Subs: Stuart Dunne for K Murray, Niall O’Reilly for C McGreevy, Donal McDonald for A Sailis, Jack Lawlor for J Cahill, Sean O’Reilly for K McConnell.

Ref: Pat Clarke