Mannion’s save keeps Barna in the hunt

Date Published: 16-Jun-2009

WITH five minutes of injury time elapsed, Killanin’s Patrick Sweeney was faced with a choice. Ball in hand with the whites of Barna’s ‘keeper Martin Mannion’s eyes in his sight, Sweeney was somehow, incredulously, in five yards of space in front of goal, having just received a hand pass from his twin brother, Cathal. A point behind, Killanin’s championship hopes rested on the next second or two.
Glory or extra-time?

Sweeney, a goal merchant, instinctively chose the former and struck low, but not quite far enough from Mannion’s reach and the ’keeper got down to his left and gratefully clutched onto the ball. The final whistle sounded within seconds and Barna had emerged victorious, in the main thanks to a sterling defensive effort in the second half and substitute DD Flaherty’s late brace of points.

While the final moments may have been as dramatic as can be imagined, this was a low quality, unattractive affair with Barna just about grinding out a result against a side that badly missed the scoring power of Stephen Kavanagh in the second half, when they could only muster two points.

Flaherty’s introduction midway through the contest was vital as he provided some semblance of structure to Barna’s attacking play which was ponderous in the extreme in the opening half.

Barna manger Pat Fallon looked a…