Connemara Gaels 0-17 Shannon
Blues 3-3
The Gaels managed to hold off the Shannon Blues in an
intriguing encounter. On three separate
occasions it appeared as though the Gaels had put enough distance between
themselves and their opponents so that they could afford to relax a little, but
on each occasion, the Blues hit with goals to pull themselves back into it, and
keep the Gaels from getting too comfortable.
In the end, the Gaels did enough to hold the Blues at bay, although
there were plenty of nerves on the Gaels sideline with James Feeney playing the
part of target man in the box for the last 10 minutes and the Blues searching
for a fourth goal.
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| Brian Joyce and the Gaels kept the Blues at bay. |
The Gaels dominated the first half of the game to the point
that with 20 minutes gone, the Blues were yet to register a wide, never mind a score. The Gaels introduced 4 new arrivals to their
lineup, while the Blues played with
largely the same 13 from the previous week. The Blues cause was not helped when Sean
Moriarty had to leave the fray after being issued a black card. By the time the Blues registered their first
score the Gaels had 8 points on the board and appeared to be cruising. Ger Leech at corner forward was doing his
thing, as was Noel Graham at center forward.
The first 6 Gaels scores came from the boot of each player. The Gaels were finding open men and switching
the play to make open chances, while the Blues sputtered and turned the ball
over several times. With 5 minutes to go
in the half the Blues lifted their efforts and got a lifeline when David
Clifford pointed and a Darren Wallace goal cut the Gaels lead in half. At the
break it was the Gaels in a 0-8 to 1-1 lead.
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| Shannon Blues could not put any sustained pressure on the Gaels. |
Within 3 minutes of the restart the Gaels had erased the
Blues 4 points from the end of the first.
Leech was the man with the golden boot again, finishing 4 times on the
trot as the Gaels blasted out of the gate in the early going. Once again, as the game looked like it was
getting out of reach, the Blues pulled themselves back into it with a penalty. Clifford, who tried to drive his side
forward, was pulled down in the box and Trevor Wallace put the ball into the
net with a well taken spot kick. James
Feeney followed with a point and it was game was back on. The Gaels looked like they had pulled away
once more, Brian Joyce, Graham, Leech, and Ciaran Killeen each pointing, but
once again, the Blues pulled themselves back into the game by way of the goal,
this one coming from James Feeney who had moved to the edge of the box. The gap was cut back to 4 points again. It was not to be for the Blues however, John Egan registered the final score of the
game for the Gaels as the westerners held off the Blues, and registered the all
important first two points of the season.
Gaels: E. Connolly,
S. Conneeley, J. Donoghue, C. Killeen, M. Shanahan, J. Egan, B. Joyce, J.
Barrett, C. Mulkerrins, N. Graham, T. McDonagh, G. Leech, K. Owens. Blues:
C. Wallace, T. Wallace, S. Kelly, D. Clifford, C. Moriarty, C. Mullen,
P. Murray, S. Moriarty , C. Fields, J. Feeney,
C. Fitzgerald, S. Kavanagh, D. Wallace.
By Rory O'Donnell
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