New blood invigorating Mullinahone

 

By Liam Hogan 

Mullinahone manager Sean O’Meara has said his side are on an upward curve and an O Riain Cup success would be a further step in their progression back to county senior championship contenders.

An O Riain Cup final appearance comes at a time when the club is beginning to progress following their divisional victory in 2019 as well as the success of their minor side who reached last year’s county ‘A’ semi-final where they lost to Kiladangan with three of that team starting in the semi-final win over Newport where they fell seven points down in the first half to fight back to win.

“We weren’t quite panicking,” O’Meara said.

 
“We played them in the group stage. They gave us an awful beating in the first half but came back as it took us a half an hour to come to terms with them. We knew we had to be quicker this time and the first water break came at the right time for us.”

Sean O’Meara has a good supply of experience and youth on his side. Eoin Fennelly and Paul Curran curbed Newport’s threat after they switched roles in the hearth of the Mullinahone defence. Some would suggest that Mullinahone gave Newport too much room and that switch appeared to work? 

“Eoin did a fine job in curbing Colin Floyd. He leads by example. Paul did well at centre back. Paul is a fantastic player at 38 years of age.

 
“We have very young players including three from last year’s winning minor team. They need a bit of guidance. Daire O’Brien’s tackle (on Sean O’Brien) at the very end was the winning and losing of the game. It capsulated the moment for a nineteen-year-old to come across and make that tackle. It was fair going.” 

Mullinahone could have two first half goals had Eoin Kelly beaten goalkeeper Mike Flannery, but it was Martin Kehoe who proved to be the match winner in the second half.

Mullinahone were relegated to the O Riain Cup in 2019 and were beaten in the semi-final last year by eventual champions JK Brackens in what was a bitter blow.

“I won’t lie but we were fairly low after last year’s semi-final defeat against Brackens,” revealed.

“We were, I suppose like Newport last Saturday, in a good position but Brackens took over. 

“We were licking our wounds over the winter but began the new year preparing and looked fit before the Covid break. We gave the boys a training schedule, but we didn’t know how they would react until the commencement of the championship.” 

O’Meara was present for Lorrha’s semi-final win over Killenaule and was suitably impressed. 

“They are a big side,” O’Meara said. 

“They move the ball very well and ran up a great score against a very decent Killenaule side. We always have trouble against Killenaule and to see a performance like that, we are under no illusions.”