Reilly fires late winner as Kilmessan claim silverware

After extra-time

Rarely can a game where 25 of 45 scores came from placed balls have provided so much entertainment than Saturday's pulsating Brendan Davis Cup final at Kildalkey.

Ultimately the hosts surrendered the cup named after their own clubman, but it took a wonder strike from extra-time substitute Darren Reilly to ensure Kilmessan were the ones celebrating the 1-21 to 0-23 win at Martin Dawson's final whistle that blew close to two hours after his first one.

With Luke Horan off the field after picking up an injury, Reilly took responsibility for the couple of late frees that fell his sides way and he proved as accurate as ever for Nicky Horan's side.

Reilly's first shot at the posts came in the eighth minutes of the second-half of extra-time. That 55 metre free looked certain to send the tie to penalties, but there was still another almost eight minutes of injury-time played.

In that spell Paddy Conneely shot agonisingly wide and Eoin Harkin hit the upright, but with the sixth minute of injury-time Kilmessan were awarded another free.

Reilly put the ball down tight to the right-hand sideline inside his own 65-metre line. Few expected him to land the score, but Reilly has long been one of the county's most accurate free takers and he lofted a superb effort between the posts to spark wild celebrations.

It was a fitting end to a game that produced plenty of good hurling and high quality scores among the litany of frees.

There were also other moments that Kilmessan will reflect on as being key to their victory.

The first came after 11 minutes when Sean Doyle's innocuous long ball dropped over Conor Flynn's head and into the net to give Kilmessan a 1-2 to 0-2 lead.

Six minutes later Kildalkey were awarded a penalty following a goal mouth scramble that ensued after Cian O'Neill made a magnificent double save to deny Niall McNally and Maurice Keogh.

Conneely stepped up to take the penalty, but O'Neill was equal to the well-struck drive and deflected the ball out for a '65' which McNally converted.

That fortunate goal and three stunning saves were the bedrock of Kilmessan's victory as Kildalkey managed just four points from play in the regulation hour.

When extra-time did eventually get underway after some debate whether it should be played or not Kildalkey looked primed for victory as Conneely clipped over outstanding score after outstanding score, but Kilmessan stuck gamely to their plan and were rewarded for their honesty of effort and superb accuracy from Luke Horan.

When these sides met in the league just a few days earlier Kildalkey claimed the spoils, but on Saturday it was Kilmessan who looked the hungrier side as Adam O'Neill and Luke Horan (free) gave them a bright start. McNally converted a brace frees to level it up before Doyle's fortunate goal was followed by a second point for Adam O'Neill which made it 1-3 to 0-2.

After Luke Horan stretched Kilmessan's lead with another free it was Cian O'Neill who emerged as a hero with three outstanding stops, including one from Conneely's penalty.

McNally and Luke Horan traded frees before Kilmessan hit three of the last five points of the half from Doyle (two) and Ben McGovern in response to scores from Brin Kelly and McNally (free) to lead by 1-9 to 0-7 at the break.

Kildalkey were like a different side when play resumed and two frees from McNally and a simple score for Conneely saw them close the gap to two points.

McNally and Luke Horan shared the next six points from placed balls as Kilmessan maintained that two-point lead, 1-12 to 0-13.

Then Kildalkey hit a purple patch with a brace of brilliant points from Evan Fitzgerald and a free from McNally cancelling out a Kevin Keena score to tie the game 0-16 to 1-13.

That parity remained at the end of the hour after McNally and Conneely responded with frees to scores from Joey Keena and Luke Horan (free) to force extra-time, 0-18 to 1-15.

The intensity and drama didn't relent in the extra period.

Joey Keena drew first blood with a point for Kilmessan, but then Conneely struck three magnificent points to give Kildalkey a 0-21 to 1-17 lead after Eoin Harkin had scored for Kilmessan.

Two more frees from Luke Horan put Kilmessan back in the box seat as they led by 1-19 to 0-21 at half-time in extra-time, but again the contest swayed the other way as McNally and Kelvin Lynch made it 0-23 to 1-19 to Kildalkey.

However the hosts failed to score in the final 10 minutes of disrupted action, while Kilmessan took their two chances with Reilly arrowing over the equaliser and the winner to secure the silverware.

Kilmessan- Cian O'Neill; Cian O'Sullivan, Shane Brennan, Chris Greene; Noah Conroy, Peter Farrell, Paddy Lally; Eoin Harkin (0-1); Ben McGovern (0-1); Luke Horan (0-10 frees), Declan Smyth, Darragh Horan; Adam O'Neill (0-2), Joey Keena (0-2), Sean Doyle (1-2). Subs - Kevin Keena (0-1) for Doyle 39m, Alex Smith for McGovern 43m, Finn Conroy for A O'Neill 60; extra-time - Jack Cottrell for K Keena, Kyle Smith for Greene, Darren Reilly (0-2 frees) for Smyth.

Kildalkey - Conor Flynn; Tiernan Bird, Gary Kelly, Brin Kelly (0-1); Martin Healy, David Harmon, Jamie Kavanagh; Evan Fitzgerald (0-2), Ryan Byas; Kevin McKeon, Niall McNally (0-14 13 frees, one '65), Luke Rickard; Paddy Barnwell, Maurice Keogh, Paddy Conneely (0-5 one free). Subs - Kelvin Lynch (0-1) for Byas, Mark Healy for Bird both half-time, Ben Rickard for Keogh 43m, Matthew Cully for Barnwell 51m; extra-time - Byas for Cully, Keogh for McKeon.

Referee - Martin Dawson (St Michael's).