With 30 minutes gone in their clash with Wicklow on Saturday night, things looked bleak for Meath until the game was turned on its head.
The Royals had a strong breeze at their backs in Aughrim, but the home side put in a trojan effort to trail by just two points when they were awarded a dubious penalty.
Paddy O’Rourke looked to have been fouled, but when the ball spilled, he was adjudged to have himself committed a foul presenting Seanie Furlong an opportunity from 11 metres to put the Garden County a point up and with a huge psychological advantage.
O’Rourke however atoned for his mistake, making the save from Furlong and the Meath then won a free. Taken short, there appeared to be little danger when full-back Kevin Reilly received the ball and thumped the ball downfield 60 metres from the Wicklow goal.
The wind carried the ball and went over the full-forward line, bounced in front of John Flynn and nestled in the net. It was an unfortunate moment for the Wicklow keeper who was no more than a yard off his line and the ball took a big bounce and the game was turned on its head. The quality of the video isn’t great and hopefully we will get a better version, but you get the idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUkgRq1Loi4
It is doubtful that Reilly intended scoring from that distance – apologies Kevin if we are grossly underestimating your eye for goal – but it was one of the most spectacular goals of the season thus far.
We’d wager big bucks that for distance alone, the goal won’t be bettered this season.
