Mullahoran grind out win over Kingscourt

Mullahoran 0-11 Kingscourt Stars 0-10 A cursory look at the league table should've told us what was going to happen here. Mullahoran have by far the meanest defence in the top flight and sit in second place, yet, incredibly, only one team in Division 1 has scored less. Yes, the Dreadnoughts are still experts in eking out results in tight matches - they revel in close combat and outfought the beleaguered Stars in this one. The men with the satchels are usually never too far wrong and they couldn't separate Mullahoran and Kingscourt in the betting. In the end, what did separate them was Mullahoran's hunger - the Dreadnoughts tackled, tackled and tackled again and their harassing and hounding of Kingscourt forced the Stars out of their comfort zone and brought the champions to a place they haven't visited since last season. And comfortable it was for Kingscourt in the opening quarter. The Stars opened the scoring with a neat point from Ryan McCormack 30 seconds in and proceeded to tear Mullahoran apart for the the next 13 minutes. A great score by Barry Reilly, after a soccer-style run by Philip Tinnelly, made it two and midfielder Gavin Sheenan, who carried a hamstring strain into the match, drove over a 45 moments later to extend Kingscourt's lead to three by the sixth minute. Mullahoran, who lost key defender Seanie Smith to a wrist injury in the week before the match, couldn't cope with Kingscourt's movement at this stage. A good turn of pace from Mark McKeon set up Barry Reilly for his second and Kingscourt's fourth point in the ninth minute and when Tinnelly set up Tomás Malone for a good point a minute later - and then Reilly fisted over another to make it 6-0 - a rout looked on the cards. But the Dreadnoughts are made of stern stuff as they have proven over the years. Eddie O'Reilly went down with cramp and the break suited Mullahoran, stalling Kingscourt's momentum. Philip Brady, anonymous in the opening quarter, latched on to a pass from Michael Brady and curled in well with the left boot to open Mullahoran's account and the same player added another seconds later to bring his team to within four. That turnaround was crucial. Having been totally out-played, Mullahoran found themselves only four adrift and although Kingscourt stemmed the tide with an excellent point from Philip Smith, Brady's power at the other end was beginning to cause serious problems. Kingscourt didn't appear to have their homework done and, in physical terms, matching Brady with Barry Tully - who prospered as a ball-playing wing-back last season rather than in the confines of the corner - and later Keith McCabe was a mistake which cost them dearly. Brady's direct approach drew a free which Enda O'Reilly converted. Brady won another in the 23rd minute, Raymond Lynch converting this time, to make it 0-7 to 0-4 and "the Gunner" cut the gap to two from the next attack with a superb point which clipped the upright on its way over from a very tight angle. Kingscourt had the last score of the match, a 20-metre McCormack free, to go in at the break leading 0-8 to 0-5, but the Dreadnoughts will have been the happier side at that juncture having recovered from a potentially-disastrous start. The second half followed the same pattern. Kingscourt brought the hard-working Malone back as an extra defender but with Philip Smith also playing deep, they struggled to work the ball out of defence. Mullahoran tackled in swarms and showed an impressive appetite for work and with the excellent Ciaran Sheils winning his battle with Ryan McCormack and Barry Reilly having faded out of the match after a terrific start, the Dreadnoughts soon began to dominate and would win the second half by four points. The first of those points arrived just 90 seconds in to the second half when Lynch accelerated along the endline and curled in well. Barry Reilly swung over a very difficult free from the right corner after a foul on McKeon to restore Kingscourt's three-point advantage but Mullahoran edged closer with a free from Lynch after a foul on sub Paul Brady. Mullahoran almost broke through for a goal from their next attack but the Stars cleared the ball from the line. There were a couple of outbreaks of "handbags" as the match became niggly and threatened to boil over and Kingscourt appeared the more unsettled. They found themselves bottled up and in one such incident, Philip Smith was forced to over-carry and Enda O'Reilly tapped over a routine free. Forty seconds later, Mullahoran were level when sub Danny Brady won a kick-out and laid off to wing-back Michael Brady, who showed a good turn of pace and clipped over a nice point. Another O'Reilly free pushed the Dreadnoughts in front for the first time in the 55th minute and this seemed to stir Kingscourt, who replied with a fine point from Tinnelly after good work from sub Daryl Martin. That point, Kingscourt's first in almost 20 minutes, levelled it up but there was a sense of inevitability about the whole thing by this stage. Mullahoran wanted it more and got their reward when Philip Brady latched on to a good ball from brother Paul and did very well to poke over under pressure from a tight angle. There was time for one last chance from Ryan McCormack but his free dropped short and Mullahoran deservedly hung on. The return of Sheils and the emergence of Michael Brady have been huge additions to their side, and with the expected improvement a couple of matches will bring, they should go very close to repeating their 2006 win. For the Stars - who lost their first match last season as well, remember - it's back to the drawing board; they absolutely must defeat Lavey if they are to have any chance of retaining the Oliver Plunkett Cup. Kingscourt: James Farrelly, Mark McGovern, Thomas Wakely, Barry Tully, JP Reilly, Alan Clarke, Keith McCabe, Colm Smith, Gavin Sheenan(0-1, 45), Philip Tinnelly (0-1), Philip Smith (0-1), Barry Reilly (0-4, 1f), Tomás Malone (0-1), Ryan McCormack (0-2, 1f), Mark McKeon SUBS: Dara Gunne, Daryl Martin Mullahoran: Dominic Crudden, Daniel King, Ciaran Sheils, James Reilly, Dermot Sheridan, Fergal Brady, Michael Brady (0-1), Killian Brady, Noel Brady, PP Galligan, Enda O'Reilly (0-3f), Tomás Nannery, Raymond Lynch (0-3, 2f), Eddie O'Reilly, Philip Brady (0-4) SUBS: Paul Brady, Danny Brady, Darren O'Reilly, Daniel Smith Ref: John Cassidy NOTE: All other match reports in this week's print issue of The Anglo-Celt.