Mohill's Eamonn O'Hara and St Mary's Alan Flynn sets sights on Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Final

Fair to say that Eamonn O’Hara and Alan Flynn were both happy to have reached the Connacht Gold Leitrim Senior Championship Final but are looking for more from their troops ahead of the decider on Sunday week, October 16.

St Mary’s  came through the first of Saturday’s semi-finals after a protracted affair that went all the way through  extra time and on to penalties with the very last kick of ten the one that decided to matter.

Two top knocked out as Mohill & St Mary's Kiltoghert set up League final rematch in Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Final

St Mary's beat Fenagh St Caillins 5-4 on penalties after 0-12 apiece draw while goals from Keith Beirne & Ronan Kennedy see Mohill to a 2-10 to 1-0 victory over Leitrim Gaels

For Alan Flynn (pictured below), the resilience shown by his St Mary’s troops in recovering from three point Fenagh leads was what impressed him most: “There was maybe two or three times we thought we had it but in fairness to Fenagh, they kept plugging at it. We were unfortunate with a few errors but in fairness to the lads, I thought they really responded every time because I think a lot of other teams would have felt this is not going to be the day, the heads go down.

"The game was so tight, I think if that happened and the heads did go down, it would have given the opportunity to Fenagh but in fairness, they stuck at their task really well.”

St Mary’s thought they had wrestled control of the game away from Fenagh early in the second half when David O’Connell fisted the ball to the net before it was disallowed by referee Ray McBrien. Yet even in that disappointment, it demonstrated St Mary’s resolve according to Alan.

“The disallowed goal was another thing but that has been one of our main themes over the year, but particularly over the last month with all the matches coming up, to just concentrate on the next ball - sometimes these decisions go with you, sometimes they don’t. 

“I thought David did really well to get in on the end of it, it was marginal but I couldn’t really see to be honest with you if he was in or out but you just roll with it.”

St Mary's stay perfect to book place in Connacht Gold SFC Final after dramatic penalty shoot - GALLERY

There was a dramatic end to Saturday's first Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Semi-Final as St Mary's Kiltoghert beat Fenagh St Caillins 5-4 on penalties and Observer photographer Willie Donnellan captured some great images of a dramatic shootout ... see who you can spot!

Eamonn O’Hara (right) felt that Mohill didn’t deliver a fully performance for the entire hour despite their 2-10 to 1-10 victory against Leitrim Gaels: “We put in a really good 15 minutes against a very strong breeze and then I think we kinda downed tools a small bit, just allowed Leitrim Gaels back into it.

“That was the disappointing thing - that we let go of the grip we had on the game. We gave away stupid passes, those turnovers cost us in those early championship games and once we got it right against Ballinamore, we were very good but we let it back in today and it became a dogfight and I think that ultimately was the difference.”

Ronan Kennedy’s decisive goal was rooted in lessons learned from their quarter final victory: “It was a great goal - I’ll bring you back to the Ballinamore game where Oisin also had a chance for their first goal when he broke out of defence, power running and slipped a very, very poor pass to Keith, they kicked a long ball and they get a goal and we get punished.

Time to split the split season

THE LAST POINT

“Today Oisin learned from it, he burst through, composed himself, gave a perfect pass to Ronan to score. Ronan also has been outstanding the last couple of weeks, his application has been brilliant and I’m delighted for him.”