“This is one that will be remembered for a long, long time"- Murnaghan and Heavey react to Moorefield's win

There were less than two minutes gone in the second half when Eddie Heavey floated over one of the most inspirational points of the 2017 Senior Football Championship. Leading 0-7 to 0-2 at the break despite having just 13 players on the field, Moorefield had been roared off the field by a raucous support that had braved the rain and wind on what is now known as ‘Moorefield Hill’ on county final day.

Heavey cut in off the left wing, rode a couple of challenges and split the posts with a curling effort of his weaker right foot, and from there it looked like Moorefield were destined to see this game through.

“It was fairly loud,” Heavey told KildareNow after the game.

“I was on the right foot and there was nothing really on, so thankfully it went over and that’s it really.”

Another county title in the bag for Heavey, and this one feels a bit more special than the rest due to the circumstances.

“It feels fantastic; the whole team just worked,” he exclaimed.

“We knew at half-time we still had a chance because we were five points up. We played the last 10 minutes of the first half with 13 men and we still got on the scoreboard. Since we got the lads sent off I don’t think they got a score on the board and we got two or three there just at the end of the half. We knew when the second half came we’d just have to work ourselves into the ground and thank God that’s what the whole team did.”

The half-forward was one of the game’s pivotal figures as he constantly acted as an outlet for his defenders to ease the pressure, while his intelligent use of the ball ensured that Moorefield bought valuable time up the other end of the field throughout. That was a role he had been perfecting throughout the year, and it came to be that he would leave his handprints all over the 2017 final.

“As Ross[Glavin] was saying to me all year, ‘part of your game is to work back into the middle third but your main job is as an outlet on the ’45’, and that’s what I was trying to do all year,” remarked Heavey.

“Just working on that, getting on ball and playing it to the boys inside and laying it off. Obviously today I got two points but I missed a goal chance at the start of the first half and I should have buried it, but thank God we came out on top anyways.”

When Moorefield lost their captain and vice-captain – Darly Flynn and David Whyte – to straight red cards inside the first 20 minutes, Heavey admitted that he feared the worst. Moorefield managed to batten down the hatches however, and they were efficient enough with their own chances to ensure that they were always in with a shot of winning.

“I thought to myself ‘Jesus this is not going to be our day’, especially after myself missing the one on one, Adam missing the peno, I just thought this is not going to be our day. Two lads sent off straight away in the first half one after another, but someone was looking down on us and thankfully we got through it.”

Ross Glavin must have had to give the half-time teamtalk of his life when Moorefield were facing into another 30 minutes of a championship final with just 13 men, but Heavey outlined how they took a measured approach and stuck true to their own principles.

“It was the same as every half-time talk, we were told get out there and outwork your opponent,” he said.

“That’s what we’re told for every game; if you outwork your opponent we’ll always be there or thereabouts. That’s the first thing you do and then you get on top of them. We came in at half-time and he said ‘lads, that’s the best 10 minutes I’ve seen you play all year at the end of the first half and now you’ve to go out and do it again for another 30 or 35 minutes. The same thing that did – get back behind the ball and then get them on the counter-attack.”

An elated Kevin Murnaghan proudly described Moorefield’s win on Sunday as one that will be remembered for a long time, and as one of the veterans in the team he is in a good position to describe just how important this county title was to the club.

The former Kildare star was given the man of the match awarded, just desserts for a splendid showing in which he was a rock in defence, a vital out ball going forward and he also scored a point, along with winning a first half penalty.

Facing the numerical disadvantage, it was the evergreen 32-year-old who stepped up to provide some crucial leadership.

“The whole team just had to dig deep,” said Murnaghan following the game.

“When the two boys got sent off we knew that we’d have to dig deep and it’s the heart we have.

“We knew once we were down to 13 men that we had to defend strongly and support the half-forward line as best we could. It was tiring. It was tough.”

“I’d say heart and grit,” replied Murnaghan when asked if it was tactics or shear bottle that got them through over 45 minutes of championship football with 13 men.

“When the two boys went we went more defensive and that, but we wanted to play football from the start and when we got the ball we wanted to move it as quickly as we could as we’ve been doing all year. Obviously when they were on the ball we were trying to keep their main scorers away from goal; the likes of Paddy Brophy, Fergal Conway and Mark O’Sullivan – we were trying to limit them to the amount of shots they could get.”

Murnaghan – like Eddie Heavey – had a big role to play in the game. The roving wing-back was usually the man to carry the ball from defence, instigate attacks and provide crucial support lines with off the ball runs. He was exhausted from his efforts, but played down his own role while also giving an insight into what drove the team on throughout 2017.

“That’s what a half-back’s role is; basically get the ball up to the lads up front and carry on and pick the passes out,” he said.

“We just pick out the likes of Eanna, Roli and Eddie Heavey. They’re always there moving so they’re easy to pick out.

“This is one that will be remembered for a long, long time. Just for Ronan Sweeney himself. He was disappointed after last year and we said we wanted to do it for him. Get another one for him because he’s just a legend in the club. An absolute legend.”