Shock defeat for O'Mahonys as Duleek advance

There are a wide variety of ways to make the leap from the group phase to the knock-out stages of the SFC. Duleek/Bellwstown took the most dramatic, thrilling route when they inflicted a shock defeat on Navan O'Mahonys under the hot sun at Skryne on Sunday afternoon. The game had slipped into the fourth minute of injury-time when Duleek/Bellewstown, trailing by a point, launched a last, desperate attempt to save the day. Tony Cunningham lofted the ball in from the left touchline and about 45 metres out. The Navan O'Mahonys square was as crowed as Grand Central Station at rush hour. Somehow Karl McDonnell managed to get his hands to the ball and get a kick goalwards. The ball broke to Peter Curran who pulled the trigger from a few metres out. It appeared to take a deflection and deceived netminder Mark Brennan for a sensational goal. The goal was the product of the spirited persistence and tenacity that Duleek/Bellewstown had demonstrated all afternoon. There was also a large dollop of good fortune involved. The ball could hardly have fallen better for Curran. There was hardly time for O'Mahonys to take the kick-out. The final whistle blew and that was the signal for the Duleek/Bellewstown players, management and supporters to go a little crazy for a few minutes as they celebrated one of the upsets of the summer. "We set ourselves a target to stay in the game as much as possible, we have worked hard on our fitness and it was needed there today, we also set ourselves a target not to concede goals," Duleek/Bellewstown coach Colm Nally told the Meath Chronicle. "The Co Committee didn't do us any favours by fixing our junior and senior teams on the same day. We only used 17 players for the senior game, but we used them well, we substituted Michael Dowling then brought him back on. "We wanted to stay close to O'Mahonys all the way because if they get a run at you they can put you away." The Brews Hill side appeared to be well on the way to the quarter-finals when they led by 0-8 to 0-4 at the interval. Their confident exuberance was underlined by Paddy Smyth when he shot over a superb point from near the sideline. Then they lost their way, and their discipline, after the break notching up nine wides in the second-half and effectively knocking themselves out of the running with some poor finishing. What turned out to be a totally forgettable day all round for O'Mahonys was capped when Barry Regan walked after picking up a second yellow card. Yet even then Duleek/Bellewstown's cause appeared a hopeless one as the game moved into added time. Curran and Co had other ideas. Mark Collins gave another fine display for Duleek/Bellestown slotting over two points while Padraig Howard, Gordon Hynes, Darren Mills and John Flood, who cracked over a brace of points from play, also did well. Curran didn't feature for much of the afternoon although he managed three points, one free, before he came up with the goal. Stephen Bray and Lee Russell showed up well in the opening half for O'Mahonys only to fade as the game wore on. Regan and Mark Ward did well at midfield for the first 40 minutes or so. Then, like the rest of the O'Mahonys players, they appeared to be rattled by the hard-hitting Duleek/Bellewstown contingent. O'Mahonys also shipped a blow early in the second-half when Kevin Reilly had a clearance bravely and fairly blocked by Flood. Reilly limped off shortly afterwards clutching his back. That incident was one of the turning points of the game giving confidence to Duleek/Bellewstown, somehow diminishing O'Mahonys. Would the last gasp goal have been scored if Reilly was manning the area in front of the square? At times O'Mahonys played sparking football. They couldn't sustain it and were sent packing from the 2010 championship by Curran's late and dramatic intervention. Duleek/Bellewstown - R Nolan; J Martin, G Hynes, P Martin; D Moore, Michael Dowling, P Howard (0-1); K McDonnell, T Cunningham; D Mills (0-1), M Collins (0-2, one free), K McCann; J Flood (0-2), D Martin, P Curran (1-3, one free). Subs - S Nolan for Michael Dowling 26mins; B Moore for P Martin 51m; Michael Dowling for Hynes 59m. Navan O'Mahonys - M Brennan; S O'Toole, K Reilly, C Reilly; S MacGabhann, C McGuinness (0-1, '45'), G O'Brien (0-1); B Regan (0-1), M Ward (0-1); D Maguire, S Bray (0-2), L Russell (0-2); S Gillespie, P Smyth (0-1), R Geraghty. Subs - D Moran for Reilly, 37 mins; A Forde (0-1) for McGuinness; S Crosby for Russell 39m; H Finnegan for Geraghty 57m. Referee - David Coldrick (Blackhall Gaels).