Mohill finally end up on the right side of the fine line

Cliches may be overused but that's usually for a good reason and when we all proclaim that there is a fine line between winning and losing, it is hard not to think of Mohill and how, with the tiniest slice of luck, they might have been celebrating a  four in a row of Connacht Gold Leitrim Senior Championships last Sunday instead of regaining the Fenagh Cup for the first time since 2020.

Those fine lines and tiny margins are everywhere when you look back at Sunday's enthralling contest  - had Nicholas McWeeney or Daire Farrell converted chances in injury time, there's a good chance we'd be talking of the first St Mary's team to claim back to back titles but it was Mohill's turn, finally, to be on the right side of the fine line last Sunday.

It is possible to marvel at the opportunism and predatory instincts of Jordan Reynolds and Ronan Kennedy for Mohill's game-defining goals while also wondering how things might have turned out had Keith Beirne and Domhnaill Flynn actually scored the points they were going for?

Years don't dull County Final day drama

That's not taking anything away from Mohill's triumph - if anything it underlines the precarious line between victory and defeat and it was the line that Mohill were on the other side of when Ballinamore Sean O'Heslins claimed the title in 2021, just as St Mary's did last year. In both games, Mohill had chances to kill off their opponents in the first half but missed crucial goal chances and they paid a heavy price when the Ballinamore and Carrick juggernauts built up a head of unstoppable steam late on in both contests - sound familiar?

Mohill were the better team  but St Mary's should have been out of sight in the first half as they failed to take three clear-cut goal chances - credit Padraig Tighe and James Mitchell for interventions every bit as critical as that of the evergreen Ronan Kennedy, the fact that they kept Mohill in a game St Mary's were dominating wasn't lost on anyone in the new champions' camp last Sunday evening.

An uncharacteristic case of the yips in attack saw Mohill struggle to reflect their outfield dominance on the scoreboard but instead of shattering their confidence, the Mohill men seemed to take it as a vindication of their strategy and instead of dragging them down, wides that were horribly off target only seemed to breathe more life into the Mohill challenge.

Credit  has to go to Eamonn O'Hara, a man who took the brunt of the outrage around Mohill when they let last year's final against St Mary's slip from their grasp - there were even stories of physical altercations and the mood music around the former Sligo All Star's future in Mohill wasn't good in the months after the 2022 Final.

Many were surprised to see O'Hara back at the helm but, from the outside, he  seemed like a man on a mission. His own words in these pages this week tell the story of a man and a team who took a long hard look at themselves and vowed to go the extra mile this year and they certainly did that.

Many would have seen the many wides Mohill kicked as crippling errors but instead O'Hara had his team believing they were actually a positive because every time they kicked a wide, they were able to pin St Mary's into their own half and pressure on the kickouts pushed St Mary's out of their comfort zone, the continually ramping up of pressure eventually paying rich dividends.

Mohill realised that the best way to discommode St Mary's was to force them out of their patented possession play, making them play the ball quickly instead of their deliberate, calm style. And it worked, St Mary's probably kicked more risky passes and 50-50 balls in the second half last Sunday than they did throughout the entire championship.

Yet  St Mary's weren't that far away from retaining their title - if we were right to point out that Mohill were kicking themselves after losing in 2022 or indeed 2021, it's only right to do the same as the defending champions went down with an almighty fight. They fought back from the trauma of conceding two goals that will haunt them and just like last year, it came down to the team that managed to get their noses in front at just the right time - it was that close.

We're all champions of the world

THE LAST POINT

On foot of last week's column on America's NFL, I didn't expect to get a picture on Sunday evening all the way from the US of four Leitrim lads enjoying the action Pittsburgh's Acrisure Stadium last Sunday. Making me very envious, Gerry Gallagher from Aughawillan, Tom McCaffrey from Ballinamore, Austin Harkin from Drumkeerin and Sean McCaffrey from Chicago were cheering on the 49ers and they had a lot to cheer about as San Francisco demolished the Steelers 30-7

We can point to Mohill's hunger, spirit and intense commitment and rightly so because the new champions displayed that in abundance but so too did a St Mary's team who gave every bit as much as their opponents, it is just that Mohill got their noses in front at the most important time and that was when Vincent McMorrow blew the long final whistle.

 As enthralling and exciting as Sunday's Final undoubtedly was, I was riveted to my seat in the press box taking in an excellent contest between two very good teams who  produced herculean efforts, there were  too many mistakes on both sides to rank it up   for sheer quality. with the 2021 final or indeed the 1996 replay between Allen Gaels and St Mary's or the 2009 epic where Glencar Manorhamilton held off Carrigallen. 

Does this defeat halt the St Mary's bandwagon in its tracks, a prospect that seems to be inducing fear and dread in some quarters,  or will it be a transformational moment for a young team, in much the same way as Dublin's historic six-in-a-row wouldn't have happened without the trauma of Jim McGuinness' Donegal ambush in 2013? Impossible to know at this stage but even with losing the Minor final on Saturday, there is a serious conveyor belt of talent coming through the Carrick ranks.

Teams win championships but it is hard not to think of  Ronan Kennedy's brilliance last Sunday - twenty seasons in Mohill colours, it is amazing to think that Chick was the scoring hero when Mohill won the title in 2006 and he is one of those players with the knack of popping up at the right moment with the game defining scores.

You can't beat “The Big Mo”

THE LAST POINT

You'd almost think it was a fluke but Kennedy has done it so often on Mohill's biggest days that it has to be a sign of a rare footballing brain. Ronan is talking about taking that brain off to the golf course in the future and if that is true, it is right to say that probably only Packy McGarty has had a greater impact on Mohill football than Chick - that is a measure of the impact he has had on the club's history!  

Finally, a few  words of congratulations - kudos to the Pairc Sean committee for the condition of  the surface last Sunday.  I know that the decision to take games like the Minor Final out of it didn't go down well in some quarters but it was undoubtedly the right decision and the pitch looked superb.

Also, I can't let the game go without congratulating referee Vincent McMorrow on an excellent performance.  After over a quarter of a century officiating, it was the biggest day of Vincent's career with the whistle and he did an excellent job - only fair to say that because we all criticise referees when decisions don't go our way so it's only right to hand out the praise when they do a good job too!