Senior Football: Aiden McAnespies v Galway - August 15

Galway 1-7 McAnespies 2-17


There would be no heroics from Galway on Sunday to pull off an unlikely senior semi final place. McAnespies proved to be just too good for the Brighton boys, though fight hard they did. Galway trailed by five points at the break, and one wondered if the maroon would pull out a second half display like they did the previous week – but it was not to be. McAnespies got a strong performance from Neil Donaghy in midfield, and Tiernan Diamond again put in a defence splitting performance at center forward, to put the screws in. Two second half goals saw off Galway’s challenge and the westerners now have to settle for the intermediate playoffs.

Neil Donaghy and Niall Kilcoyne battle for posession.

McAnespies looked to be comfortably dealing with the Galway challenge in the first period. Before ten minutes were out McAnespies held a five points to no score advantage over their opponents. Neil Donaghy was having his best game of the year in the middle of the field, while Thomas Corrigan was on form. Galway opened their account through the place kicking of Gearoid O’Connor and settled into the game – albeit at a five point disadvantage. Galway worked hard in defence in the face of sustained pressure, and once again Shane Melia and Paul Cummins did well dealing with tough assignments in Corrigan and CJ McGourty. O’Connor added two more points and Niall Kilcoyne a third for Galway before the half was over, while Donnacha Tobin and McGourty kept McAnespies five-point lead intact.

Tony McClelland rounds Galway's Gags O'Connor.

Colm McCrory extended McAnespies lead to six shortly after the restart, but Galway answered with points from O’Connor and Ryan O’Dwyer. Was the Galway comeback about to happen? It seemed like it could be on the cards as when McAnespies won a penalty, Tobin was dragged by the shirt in the penalty area, McGourty’s placed effort came off the post. McGourty made up for the miss a minute later however. Corrigan played the Antrim man in and McGourty made no mistake with the goal chance. Corrigan added a point to put McAnespies in a formidable eight point lead and 15 minutes left. Adrian Kelly accounted for the lone Galway point down the stretch, while Luke Sweetman pointed after entering the fray, and Tobin added a goal and a point. McAnespies now have the chance to make amends for last year’s semi-final defeat at the hands of Christopher’s as the teams will meet in the first of next Sunday’s semi-finals.

Galway: A. Ready, S. Melia, P. Cummins, S. Gallagher, R. O’Dwyer (0-1), JJ O’Neill, N. Kilcoyne (0-1), P. Ryan, P. Hackett, G. O’Connor (0-4), P. Nolan, A. Kelly (0-2), D. Corbett. Macs: S. Connolly, B. O’Reilly, M. Bogue, D. Wylie, T. McClelland, C. O’Sullivan, B. McGarr, N. Donaghy (0-2), D. Tobin (1-2), T. Diamond, C. McCrory (0-3), T. Corrigan (0-5), CJ McGourty (1-2). Sub: L. Sweetman (0-1)


By Rory O'Donnell