Last gasp heartbreak for Meelin

Barryroe 2-18 Meelin 4-11

THE old saying about two points being a dangerous lead became a sickening reality for Meelin when defender Ger O’Leary emerged the toast of Barryroe after his 64th minute goal snatched a dramatic win.

With fortunes swaying back and forth in a captivating contest that was a credit to the honesty and determination of both sides, matters had looked bleak for the West Cork side after conceded four goals in the opening half.

However, come the full-time whistle, Barryroe remain in the championship race , facing a Round 4 clash against Sarsfield thanks to 37 year old O’Leary scrambling home the matchwinner deep into injury time.

Barryroe had dug their heels in upon the resumption, their spirit manifested itself on whittling down the deficit to two points. And with Meelin hanging on for dear life, Barryroe talisman Tadhg Harrington stood over close in frees in injury time, electing to go for goal.

Twice Harrington’s efforts were blocked but on the second occasion, the rebound fell kindly to starting full-back O’Leary who surely netted the most important goal of a long career much to the delight of team coach Brendan Coleman.

“Words can’t describe the win, we asked the players to dig deep at half time, they put in a massive effort and Ger came up with the winner. We’re building a young team, disappointed on a loss to Kilbrittain, but we’re back on track and this is the victory, we needed,” he said.

Both sides tore into the fray from the off with goals at the either end within the opening two minutes, a fine strike by Barryroe’s David O’Sullivan got his side off to a flyer. The Meelin response was immediate, William Murphy centred for James Forrest for a green flag.

For a time, Barryroe shaded the play with points recorded by John O’Donovan, Tadgh Harrington and Seán Holland to assume a 1-4 to 1-1 advantage. However, Meelin began to step up the intensity during the closing 10 minutes with Denis O’Riordan, Mike Forrest, William Murphy and James Forrest to the fore.

Good work by Liam Collins placed William Murphy to goal only for Harrington to reply for a Barryroe point to equalise. Still Meelin appeared to hold the upperhand, Murphy flicked on for Forrest to net his second goal.

Now Meelin proceeded to enjoy a surplus of possession, points added by T J and Shane Brosnan. Barryroe answered with a Harrington 65 yet their defence was again breached in added on time, Shane Brosnan fired a precision rasper to the Barryroe net to secure a 4-5 to 1-8 advantage at the break.

Faced with a severe test of character, Barryroe rose to the challenge in style, driven on by John Whelton, David Kiely, John O’Donovan, Seán Holland and the accuracy of Harrington from placed balls and play. Additional points from Jack Murphy and Ciarán Hurley cut the deficit to just two.

For a spell, Meelin recovered, helped on pointed frees by custodian Stephen Martin O’Sullivan and John Forrest with substitute Jason O’Callaghan and TJ Brosnan also adding white flags to push the Duhallow side ahead 4-9 to 1-13 by the three quarter mark.

Still Barryroe remained in with a shout, points recorded by Murphy and Harrington. Though Meelin replied with a Brosnan effort, Barryroe weren’t relenting, a pair of Harrington frees cut the leeway to two again.

In a welter of excitement, the second half had developed into a titanic struggle as Forrest and Harrington swapped points. On three occasions, Barryroe had pared back the margin to two points yet Meelin appeared good enough to hold out though James Forrest was denied a hat trick of goals on a terrific save by Barryroe ‘keeper Billy O’Donovan.

Barryroe needed inspiration, veteran O’Leary provided it on moving forward in the last throw of the dice, Harrington’s 20 mtr free partly blocked, somehow O’Leary got the touch on the sliothar to squeeze home the winner.

The timing of O’Leary’s strike could not had been so dramatic or effective as it left Meelin with no chance to recover thus defeat ended their involvement in championship 2017. BARRYROE: B O’Donovan; C O’Regan, G O’Leary 1-0, E Sheehy; J Whelton, J Fleming, D Kiely; J O’Donovan 0-2, T Kearney; J Murphy 0-2, T Harrington 0-11(0-7f, 0-1’65), D O’Sullivan 1-0; D McCarthy, S Holland 0-1, C Hurley 0-2 Sub: T McKeown for Hurley (48)

MEELIN: S M O’Sullivan 0-1f; M Forrest, D O’Riordan, T J Twomey; B O’Sullivan, K Collins, Jerry Forrest; L Collins, J Curtin; S O’Riordan, W Murphy 1-1, John Forrest 0-2(0-1f); S Brosnan 1-1, T J Brosnan 0-3, James Forrest 2-2 Subs: J O’Callaghan 0-1 for Jerry Forrest (52), M O’Keeffe for S O’Riordan (57)

REFEREE: D Daly (Brian Dillons)