Rising star
December 30, 2010To say Kingscourt and Cavan are fortunate to have a player like Barry Reilly would be somewhat of an understatement. A quick forward with exceptional skill, precision and vision isn't something you come across everyday when scouring club games, but if you were present at any of Kingscourt's games on their trail to this year's senior football championship triumph you'd have seen for yourself what their number 12 is all about.
Still only a teenager, Reilly was the perfect fit when Cavan Under 21 boss Terry Hyland was looking to add craft to an already deadly forward line ahead of their provincial opener against Down at the end of March.
The season was to have a delayed start for Reilly though, with studies for his Leaving Certificate taking priority over football for the first few months and he made it clear to Hyland that he wouldn't be able to kick a ball until his mock exams were over and done with three months into the New Year.
"I was back repeating my Leaving Cert, so I thought I should just keep the main focus on studies and forget about football for the time being," said Reilly.
"Terry was the main man in bringing me back in. I told him that I didn't want to be walking back into the panel after the lads had trained the whole winter, but he told me because I had been there at the start of the year that I could come back in, so I did.
"We played two challenge games and I was back for the second one against Donegal in Breffni. Training was top-notch and you couldn't fault it. The team were well-prepared going into the first game against Down."
Despite having home advantage and a stream of talent in their ranks, Cavan were in fact ranked as outsiders by unknowing bookies and pundits going into their clash with Down on March 24, and come the full-time whistle at Kingspan Breffni Park Hyland's charges would leave no-one in doubt about either their ability or hunger, as they emerged 3-14 to 1-8 winners against the then Ulster champions.
It was a result that certainly turned heads across they county, as well as the province.
"It was a great team performance that night and it showed that there are good players coming through in this county, despite what others might say," Reilly pointed out.
"We knew ourselves afterwards that we had to keep grounded. There were Cavan Under 21 and minor teams that had been there so many times before and our captain Rory Dunne reminded us of that, but the lads knew it themselves anyway."
Reilly's spot on with that. There have been too many occasions in the past where the young up and coming of the Breffni County have been built up for the big fall and this past season both the Under 21 players and management made sure that didn't happen, although you can be sure the belief and drive was there.
When they travelled to Enniskillen for a semi-final date with neighbours Monaghan, their opponents were again the fancied side and that suited Reilly and co down to the ground, with a place in a long-awaited Ulster championship final at stake.
When the two sides met at Brewster Park they served up an absolute thriller for those in attendance. Cavan had made another riveting start which saw them score an unanswered 1-5 in the first quarter, but Monaghan hit back and were ahead going into the last ten minutes before substitute Robert Maloney-Derham levelled and the brilliant David Givney booted over the winner in injury-time to send Cavan into the decider.
The victory was a sweet one for Reilly, who admitted that "it was great to get one over Monaghan".
"I went to school in Monaghan and the there was always a good bit of slagging when ever Cavan and Monaghan met at any level in either the league or championship. There were maybe three or four of that Monaghan panel that would have been in school with me at the time, so it was great to get that win. Myself and Kieran Hughes are actually in college together here in Jordanstown since."
While the sound of the full-time whistle in that match had the players, management and supporters on 'Cloud Nine', the management were quick to get the players into a huddle afterwards and bring them back down to earth as a showdown with Donegal beckoned just four days later at the same venue to decide where the Ulster title would rest for 2010.
Reilly claimed that the squad was focused and added that nerves weren't any issue for the players - many of whom were taking part in their first provincial championship final for their county - adding that he himself is rarely over anxious going into any game of football.
"We just knew we had a job to do," he said
"In fairness, we knew Donegal were a very good team and they were very well-drilled going into that game, so we knew what to expect from them. I just saw it as another game. I would never get nervous over a game of football and the preparations were excellent going into it so there was nothing to be worried about."
While Reilly was one of Cavan's top performers on the day after scoring 0-4, it was well-timed goals that made all the difference for Donegal as they ended the young Breffni men's hopes on a 2-8 to 0-7 score-line.
Recalling the game, Reilly cited the big turning-point in first-half when the sides were level on 0-2 each and team-mate Brendan 'Bud' Fitzpatrick was deemed to have picked the ball off the ground by the match referee. From the resultant free, Jim McGuinness' side went on to register a decisive goal.
"I think the game was level and a ball came towards 'Bud' Fitzpatrick and the ref blew it up for picking it off the ground. I saw it and it wasn't off the ground and I think from that free Donegal went on and got the goal, so it was a big turning-point in the game," Reilly stated.
"There wasn't a whole pile said afterwards in the dressing-room. Obviously we were gutted, but we met two weeks after the game and talked about next year. We were given programmes to follow and a lot of lads went to America that summer, so hopefully they followed them and we can improve again for next year."
As for offers to go abroad, Reilly has been reluctant to commit to anything long-term, having attended AFL trials in the past and been offered the chance to spend the past summer in the US.
"A fella here from Kingscourt asked me if I would I be interested in going over for the summer and I told him I wouldn't and thank God I did," he said.
"I missed most of the club championship last year because I was in Australia and I wanted to be here for this year and, thankfully, we went all the way to the final and won it. I enjoyed Australia, but growing up it's always been Cavan, Cavan, Cavan for me. I turned it down last year, but it's something that's at the back of my mind for now."
That's certainly music to the ears of both Cavan and Kingscourt supporters.
It's no secret that in this past season the tricky wing forward was instrumental in leading the Stars to a first Cavan SFC final in 11 years, with the seemingly unstoppable champions Cavan Gaels, who defeated Dudley Farrell's charges by 14 points in the league, standing in their way.
"At the begging of the year our aim was to get to the final and during the league we kind of re-constructed ourselves and got into a winning run. After that we thought to ourselves why not be greedy and push on the whole way," the Stars' talisman stated.
"Before the final people were coming up to us and saying 'best of luck Sunday' and you could tell that some of them weren't all that optimistic. We knew that we'd put it up to the Gaels and that if we were within three or four points of them at half-time that we could win.
"We actually went down by five points after their goal and just showed great character to come back and win it."
Reilly also brushed aside the notion that the Cavan town club were ungracious after the defeat in the final.
"No doubt about it, the Gaels are a good club," he insisted. "The game was very intense, with a lot of hard-hitting and I had to go off when there was still 15 minutes to go. I'm related to the Reillys (Eamonn and Dominic) and they were the first two over to congratulate me afterwards and the rest of them done the same, so they were gracious in defeat."
With it all ahead of him, Reilly is now concentrating on 2011 with the UUJ freshers' team, Cavan Under 21s and Kingscourt all clogging up his football agenda, but after just putting a superb season under his belt he will more than likely have to make space for a call up to the county senior set-up sooner rather than later. Tweet
