6/9/2024 - Senior Football - Donegal Boston vs Aidan McAnespies

By Neil McEnaney

Full Time:

Donegal Boston 3-20

Aidan McAnespies 1-6

 

The dreary rain that started the day had stopped by the time the ball was thrown in for these two Boston Senior Football rivals. The match started quite evenly with both teams trading early scores before Donegal started pulling ahead and running out comfortable winners.

 

Donegal started the brighter with Carthy winning the breaking ball from the throw up and moving it quickly into Donal O’Sullivan who was fouled as he took on his man. O’Sullivan stepped up and converted the free to get the scoring underway. He added a second point from a free when a Macs player was blown for overcarrying.

 

Conall Devlin for McAnespies did brilliantly to catch Croft’s kickout on the right wing under pressure before taking it himself on a solo run and a brilliant point too with the outside of his boot. Macs kept the pressure up and leveled with Donegal with a well taken score by Adam Fanning with his left foot.

 

Donegal started getting into their groove, with strong running from Morissey setting up Jimmy O’Grady for a point and Donal O’Sullivan adding another point from play. A holding the jersey off the ball led to a converted point by Brolly for the Macs leaving them within one point of Donegal (0-4 to 0-3).

 

From here to the rest of the game, it was all one way traffic in favor of Donegal. Ruari Gormley picked up a yellow for pulling Morissey to the ground. Corey Gallagher made a strong run from wing back to set up O’Grady for an easy point.

 

Donegal started moving the ball very well with Carthy assisting Lowry and O’Dwyer for points before adding himself to the scoresheet with a well taken score from the left wing. Ruari Gormley broke through the Donegal defence at one stage but hit his shot wide, just trailing left of the post.

 

Half Time Score:

Donegal Boston: 0-12

Aidan McAnespies 0-4

 

The second half started with a bang and any chances of a Macs comeback were dealt a huge blow right from the throw in. A high tackle by Gormley in midfield led to him picking up a second yellow and was sent off.

 

Donegal weren’t long making their man advantage count extending the lead with points from Morissey, O’Sullivan and O’Grady. The killer blow for the Macs came from Lowry who used all his speed to take on his man and set O’Sullivan up for the first goal of the game. O’Sullivan wasn’t long getting another goal after he rounded the goalkeeper to put it into an empty net.

 

The McAnespies, to their credit, kept on battling to the end with Fanning looking dangerous in the full forward line and picking up a goal after a long pass from Croft.

 

Man of the Match: Shane Carthy

Team and Scorers:

Donegal Boston:

Darren Grant, Anthony Diver, Neil Mulcahy, Sean Winston, Ben McCarron (0-1), Cory Gallagher, Shane Carthy (0-2), Jordan Morissey (0-2), Ciaran McDevitt (0-1), Jimmy O’Grady (0-3), Sean Lowry (1-2), Donal O’Sullivan (2-4), Ryan O’Dwyer (0-4)

 

Aidan McAnespies:

Robbie Croft, Darren Gibney, Cormac McKeogh, Conall Devlin (0-1), Owen Ward, Cian Quinn, Ruari, Gormley, Steven Ward, Cian Grime (0-1), Eoin Gormley, Rurai Scott, Adam Fanning (1-3), Rory Brolly (0-1)