THE STRIFE OF REILLY.

Meath great Graham recalls events of infamous 2010 Leinster final when Sheridan's controversial goal broke Louth hearts

- BY KARL O'KANE

IF only Graham Reilly's 40-metre boomer had stayed its course - the way they usually did - and dropped over the Louth crossbar.

It would have saved a fair bit of hassle all round. But it didn't. The ball tailed right and dropped in around the goalmouth.

There, in waiting, was a shaven-headed Seamus Kenny, like one of those kamikaze spider monkeys catapulting through the trees.

Perhaps he traversed the corner of the squad in snatching the ball from the skies but who knows?

A minor controversy, as it turns out, compared to what would ensue in the seconds, minutes, hours, days and years that followed.

Kenny was set to blaze to the net but in stepped Paddy Keenan's with a desperate and miraculous play that looked to have won the day for Louth and should have earned him Conor Gormley-like status in the Wee County.

It's absolute bedlam now and the ball is fumbled. In sweeps Joe Sheridan, diving on it and falling across the goaline, while trying to swing a leg at the O'Neill's that doesn't make contact.

Tyrone referee Martin Sludden is unsure what happened and goes in to check with his umpires. He only consults with one umpire and makes what for all the world still looks like a hasty decision, considering the magnitude of the call.