Éire Óg "can’t be relying on one man," says Jack Murphy after spread of scorers sinks Bishopstown

A complete performance for around 50 minutes, and one that threatened complete catastrophe. Éire Óg’s win over Bishopstown was convincing in the main, but its conclusion was anything but steady.

The Ovens outfit haven’t set the grade alight this season, but neither have they been off the pace. Harry O’Reilly’s men are right where they want to be – quietly slipping in among a final four alongside Cill na Martra, Knocknagree and Béal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh, all chasing the one golden ticket to the top flight.

Still, manager O’Reilly was as much relieved as satisfied.

“We were in a good position there at one stage, nine points up,” O’Reilly said after the win. “We went a bit defensive and we stood off them and let them play.

“In fairness to them, they kept picking off their points and then when the opening came, they took their goal, and we'd been really solid in there. We didn't look like conceding a goal, but it was a hairy ending to it.

“Goulding stepped up and did what he does and nailed the two-pointer, so it's brilliant.” That two-point free was the clincher, but O’Reilly has worked hard to ensure Éire Óg are not solely reliant on Daniel Goulding’s sharpshooting. Saturday’s spread of scores – nine different names on the sheet – was a timely reminder.

We don't have any man that does all the scoring for us, it’s spread all over the pitch and it's important.

OFF DAY

“If any lad has an off day, we’re able to spread it around a bit more. But we’ll have to up our performance, Cill na Martra in the semi-final That performance will not beat Cill na Martra, so we have stuff to work on.” Forward Jack Murphy, their top scorer on five points, picked up the same thread.

“I think as a forwards unit or even as a team, we probably felt that we weren't clicking up front the last couple of games. So we kind of went back to basics today and just tried to play a team game.

“And as much as people might get on the end of scores, a lot of the ones I was getting there, were just tap overs from four or five other fellas doing all the hard work.

“You could see Eoin O’Shea, Ronan O'Toole or Dylan Foley coming in, just laying off the right ball, making that extra pass.” It is a philosophy borne out by the numbers – 11 different scorers against Newmarket, nine again here.

“We lost that game, we were poor defensively,” Murphy said. “But I think you need multiple scorers nowadays, you need scores to be coming from everywhere, when teams are this good at this grade, you can't be relying on people.

“We've probably learned that over the last couple of years where we had to rely on Goulding for eight or 10 points, you can't be relying on that every day.” And if spreading the load has been a lesson, so too has handling the press. Bishopstown’s late surge made sure of that.

“We got out of jail there to be honest in the last five minutes,” he admitted. “Bishopstown really pushed us. Savage team, I know they're very young, but Jesus, they really went after it and have been for the last couple of years.

“I'd say that they'll be there or thereabouts for the next while.

You can see like when teams really go after you on a press, it's a very different game now where you can't kind of sit in with 15 people behind the ball.

“So if you go after fellas, especially this time of the year, the ground's getting a lot heavier and you need your whole team of 20 like the legs helped us there at the end,” he said. “They really, really pushed us so just delighted to get over the line.”