Aidan McAnespies 1-10 Donegal 0-11
It was a game that contained the best of the game – and the
worst. There were ugly scenes in the
first half as two major melees broke out.
The result of both was a plethora of yellow cards, and one sending off. The best of it was the heart and determination
shown by McAnespies, when a man down, and after losing their key midfield men,
how they buckled down and against the odds, and made it to the 2017 final. The re-entry to the game of a taped up Danny
McBride to see them over the line added a dramatic twist that the tale
deserved.
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| Ferghal McGeough on the move for McAnespies |
It was an incident packed first half in which there were
numerous yellow cards were issued and one sending off. It was shaping up to be a good game of
football before two melees broke out.
One in the McAnespies goalmouth and shortly afterwards, in the Donegal
half of the field. Referee Pa O’Driscoll
was the center of attention as he took several minutes to try and sort out who
was responsible for what, such was the degree of kicking, punching, and shoving
from most of the players on the field.
In fairness to O’Driscoll, he would have been justified in calling the
game, but decided to issue a red card to Brian Breslin as he was adjudged to
have been the starting point of the row.
Others got away lightly with yellow cards, which at least players were on
notice. Had reds been issued it could
have been a 7 or 8 a side game, which was not what people turned up to see. We carried on in the hope that a game of
football would break out. At the end of
it, the crowd was treated to drama seldom seen in Canton, even among the numerous
dramatic games over the years. On the
football front McAnespies had netted through Marty Mongan who fisted a high
ball over the line from the edge of the box, and playing the ball well from the
back, McAnespies converted three points.
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| Stephen McBrearty Shoots. |
Just before the fighting, Danny McBride had to leave play
due to a wrist injury and, after the red for Breslin McAnespies lost their
second midfielder. Few gave them a
chance with a man down and their two most important players of the season on
the sideline. Donegal had pointed
through Ted Furman and a beautiful curler from Enda Varley. But McAnespies kept it tight in their own
half of the field, and Donegal did not have not whole lot of room in which to
operate. At the break it was McAnespies
by a point, 1-3 to 0-5, and the buzz in the stands was all about the scenes
that ended the half.
The second half saw McAnespies hold their own, and over the
first 10 minutes outscored their opponents.
Niall Rooney, Robbie Croft (2 frees) and Ferghal McGeough capitalized on
opportunities from breaking out of defence.
One felt that with the man advantage and the pedigree of players in the
forward line, it would just be a matter of time before Donegal caught up. Fatigue was visibly wearing on players from
both teams, but Donegal would have an edge down the stretch with that extra
man.
Catch up they did.
Brian Donnelly, McBrearty, Kevin Toner and McBrearty again pointed as
Donegal found routes through the clogged McAnespies defence. McBrearty’s second point put Donegal one to
the good and surely it was now a matter of adding a few more in the final
minutes and preparing for a final. It
was not over however. Like Larry Bird coming
back into the game for the Celtics after getting getting hurt in 1991 or Paul
Pierce coming back on the floor in 2008 after leaving the game in a wheelchair,
Danny McBride reentered the game with his wrist taped to the cheers of the
McAnespies supporters. McAnespies
rallied and McBride immediately pointed from a free to level the scores. McAnespies got the lift they needed for the
last 5 minutes with the game on the line.
As the defence did its job and continued to make life difficult for
Donegal, McAnespies forced Donegal into turnovers and patience saw them work
the ball within scoring range. Donegal
were forced into fouling when Che O’Donnell or Michael Walsh were on the ball
and McAnespies capitalized by pointing a free (Croft) to put them ahead. To cap it off Fergal McGeough put the
insurance over from out on the wing with a wonderful score. It was an amazing end to the game and
McAnespies supporters have not exhibited such a level of delight in many years. Donegal will be wondering how the game
slipped away from them, while McAnespies will be taking stock and tending to
their wounds over the next week when they get ready to face the Shannon Blues.
Macs: Paddy Coakley,
Tommy Brearton, Paul Clifford, Seamus Breslin, Eoin Delmer, Fergal McGeough,
Brian Breslin, Danny McBride, Michael Walsh, Martin Mongan, Niall Rooney, Che
O’Donnell, Robbie Croft.
Donegal: Christy
McLaughlin, Jason Noctor, Conor Burke, Sean Doherty, Jack O’Brien, Derek
Maguire, Eoghan Lafferty, Brian Donnelly, Sean Donnelly, Stephen McBrearty,
Mike Finnegan, Enda Varley, Ted Furman.
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