Connemara Gaels 4-6 Aidan McAnespies 4-6
The Connemara Gaels and Aidan McAnespies played a humdinger
of a senior football championship game with McAnespies seeking a shot at second
place and an automatic semi-final place.
Early on the Macs were cruising having blasted off to a great start, only
for the Gaels to come back into it. Eoin
Connolly stood tall for the Gaels and pulled off four great saves to keep his
team in the game, and just when it looked like the spoils might go to the
Connemara men, a last minute Conor Daly goal tied it up for McAnespies to
salvage a draw.
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| Sean Conneely field a kickout. |
McAnespies got off to a flying start with a two goals and
one point flurry to stun the Gaels. Twice
the McAnespies forwards sliced through the Gaels defence to raise the green
flag. The first goal saw McAnespies
combine well and at speed to leave the easiest of finishes for Dessie Ward who
come steaming down the middle to blast the ball home, and the second came from
Kevin McKernan after Alan Forde passed the ball across the face of goal to the
open Antrim man to palm with ease into the net - McAnespies were rolling.
The Gaels pulled themselves back into the game, the
westerners could not afford a repeat of last week’s performance. The water break half way through the period
seemed to have helped settle them down.
Unfortunately, however, in spite of creating multiple chances, the
westerners left their shooting boots behind and missed plethora of scoring
opportunities. Eventually a goal from
David Larkin came and the Gaels added a couple of points before half time from
Cian Sheehan and Fintan Cooney to make it a two point difference at the break,
2-1 to 1-2 in favour of the Macs.
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| Kevin McKernan sandwiched between Gaels defenders. |
The second half saw McAnespies extend their lead only for
the Gaels to haul it back in and go ahead with some spectacular plays. After Kerr pointed, McAnespies earned a
penalty when McKernan was hauled down in the box by Lee Cullen. McKernan put the ball in the right place and
Macs led by six. The Gaels got the goal
right back from the kickout. Ryan Hyde
won the ball clean in midfield and two passes later the ball was in the net
from Ronan Kennedy’s boot.
Eoin Connolly was then sharp to Alan Forde’s shot to pull
off a great save before David Larkin scored one of the best goals seen in
Canton this year. After a measured pass
from Caffrey to Ryan Rafferty in the corner, the ball was transferred to Larkin,
who fired a shot to the far corner from just outside the 21. The Gaels were back on level terms.
With plenty of time left it was up for grabs and the tension
on and off the field was palpable as both teams vied for the killer blow. After swapping two points from each side,
Barry Kerr put McAnespies up by one with a well taken free. The Gaels had another goal in them however After capitalizing on a wayward pass out of
defence, the ball went straight to Caffrey who found the inrushing Ronan
Kennedy, and in spite of a good effort from Ryan McCrystal who almost saved,
the ball wound up in the net.
The Gaels extended their lead to four points with scores
from Brendan Boylan who did well after entering the fray, and McKernan put a
point over the bar to reduce the gap to a goal with time almost up. Conor
Daly came to the rescue for McAnespies with a well placed shot to the bottom
corner to tie the game in injury time. The
result, which really did not do much to advance the cause of either team, left
the door open for Galway to take second place outright with a win over
Christopher’s in the final game of the day.
Gaels: E. Connolly,
L. Cullen, J. Wyndham, J. O’Shea, D. Larkin, S. Conneeley, F. Cooney, R. Hyde,
C. Sheehan, R. Caffrey, J. O’Brien, R. Rafferty, R. Kennedy. Macs: R.
McCrystal, J. Allen, P. Daly, C. Daly, P. Holloway, R. Reynolds, S. Daly, D.
Ward, B. Kerr, K. McKernan, S. Attride, A. Forde, G. O’Neill.
By Rory O'Donnell
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