BY NOEL HORGAN

KEVIN Werner must have felt his day was done after being replaced with about seven minutes remaining in Sunday’s county intermediate A football final replay.

Reintroduced in extra-time, however, he ended up with the man-of-the-match accolade, scoring the last-gasp winning goal for Ballinora to bring his tally to 1-4 overall.

It was a plucky decision by Werner – son of former O’Donovan Rossa footballer Jurgen Werner – to go for broke instead of tapping the ball over the bar to level matters, as Ballinora coach Ken O’Halloran readily acknowledged afterwards.

‘He could have taken the easy option, and if he’d missed the goal we’d be killing him, but what a man. He was quiet enough in the game, but he came alive in extra-time, and he’ll be a hero forever now,’ said O’Halloran, adding that county final success – Ballinora’s first since winning a junior title in 1997 – couldn’t come any sweeter.

‘It’s unbelievable to win a county final replay with the last kick of the game, so we’re absolutely thrilled,’ said the former Cork and Bishopstown goalkeeper.

‘We played very well in the first half, but there was a stiff breeze blowing down the pitch, so we knew two-pointers were possible for Ilen Rovers in the second half.

‘They got a goal straightaway after half-time, but our lads had the character to stick to the game-plan. I think they’re a credit to the club, their families and to themselves.’

Perhaps no Ballinora player savoured the win more than the long-serving Darragh Holmes, who's in his 12th season involved with the club’s top team.

‘It’s impossible to describe how much it means, especially since we were underdogs for most of our games this year, but there are young lads there who are used to winning championships right up along,’ he pointed out.

‘We’ve been waiting for a group like this to come through, and it’s just great to see the work people put in when things weren’t going so well coming to fruition today.

‘You only dream of winning a county with a last-minute goal, and Kevin showed great courage to back himself and go for it, although I must admit I was screaming at him to tap it over the bar,’ revealed the 28-year old seasoned stalwart.

Shane Kingston was also quick to laud the impact made by the younger members of the squad to Ballinora’s progress against the odds.

‘I’d say 13 of our starting 15 are under the age of 23, so there’s great enthusiasm there, and that just drove us on,’ said 22-year old Kingston.

‘This is my fifth year playing at this level, and we hadn’t even got out of the group stage before, so it’s a great achievement to go all the way now.

‘We’d won bits and pieces at underage, so we did have some confidence, and our self-belief just kept growing the further we progressed in this championship.

‘Eventually fellas began to realise just how good they were, different guys stood up at different times, such as Mark O’Brien, who, in his first year with us, has been impressive in every game, and Kevin (Werner) who was our star man today.’

As in the drawn game, former Cork minor Kingston gave a sterling display at centre back, highlighted by a superb individual point early in the second half. He agreed Ballinora were well on top defensively in the first half, but he noted Ilen did get behind the cover at times.

‘We knew they were going to come back at us with the wind behind them, because they’re an established outfit, and you’d have to say we were lucky enough to get over the line in the end.’