Alan Mulhall has seen a fair bit in his time.
The Offaly goalkeeper has been ploughing along with the county team for the best part of eight years now and he’s had his own achievements and attracted his own fans.
Perhaps the life of a number one has become a little more glamorous in recent seasons with the kickout now recognised as one of the most important aspects of the game and more and more goalies trotting forward to nail free kicks. It’s not like they’re judged solely anymore on mistakes or no mistakes, there are so many different aspects to their game and that can only be a good thing because it must be a pain in the arse constantly shitting yourself about being made or broken by one aspect of your game that no-one else can help out with.
Of all the stuff you dream of as a kid though, scoring a goal with the last kick of a championship game would be right up there – even for a ‘keeper.
So on Sunday whilst the rest of the country were glued to an enthralling All-Ireland semi-final between Mayo and Kerry, there were matters of relatively equal importance at Daingean GAA club in Offaly.
Alan Mulhall’s Walsh Island were playing St. Brigid’s in the round robin stage of the Senior B football championship and, although Brigid’s have found themselves at the bottom of the group with no wins recorded as of yet, they had worked their way into a 1-9 to 0-9 lead with just one kick of a ball remaining.
A 13-metre free was issued so, naturally, the leaders threw everybody on the line. Crowd the area, let them argue about whether or not they should just tap it over or pointlessly go for it.
It never comes off if they go for it anyway. Right? RIGHT?
Not when Mulhall’s about. The Offaly and Walsh Island goalkeeper scaled the field, planted the ball down on the 13-metre line and absolutely hammered it straight and hard at all the bodies.
The ball – now in a torpedo state – hits the net, the Walsh Island contingent go nuts, the referee blows the final whistle, they’ve rescued a draw in the most unlikely of circumstances. Beautiful scenes altogether.
Video from Mark Whittle and first appeared on the Daingean GAA page.
Normally that ball would be ballooned over or hit tamely into the bodies or stupidly worked short or, even worse, tapped over to make the scoreline more respectable.
Normally. Not on Sunday in Daingean though. Not on Mulhall’s watch.
And it turned out to be a precious point for Walsh Island as they maintain their hunt for qualification from the group.
What a hero.
Thanks to Niall Corcoran and Mark Whittle for sending this our way. If you have any pieces of content you’d like to share with us, hit us up on Facebook or Twitter or send us an email at editorial@SportsJOE.ie.
