Connemara Gaels 4-10 Aidan McAnespies 0-10
The Connemara Gaels saw themselves through to the senior
football semi final with an impressive, controlled performance against Aidan
McAnespies. A week ago the Gaels conceded 4 goals against the same opposition and at that had
Eoin Connolly to thank for keeping them in the game, however Sunday Connolly
was hardly troubled. When McAnespies put
some pressure on and tried to turn momentum to scores in the second half, the
Gaels defence worked doggedly to close the spaces down. Ryan Rafferty was the hero up front for the
Gaels, and the speedy corner forward netted a hat trick to see his side through
to the next phase of the championship.
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| Connemara Gaels made a date for themselves with Wolfe Tones next Sunday. |
The first half saw the Gaels establish a 6 point lead, with
two goals standing between the teams.
The Connemara men played some nice build up football, and had a lively
Ryan Rafferty at corner forward causing palpitations for the McAnespies
supporters. With the Gaels having netted
already twice, Rafferty won the ball in his corner and almost netted on two
further occasions. Ryan McCrystal made a
fine save with his legs the first time, and on the second Conor Daly intervened
to block the shot to the empty net and keep their team in touching distance.
Rafferty had bagged a goal early in the half, the Armagh
native netted following a move that was started by Cian Sheehan. John O’Brien punished McAnespies with a
second goal after a mis-hit short kickout and blasted the ball off the inside
of the post. The teams were a match in
the points column; the Gaels had Ronan Kennedy on the mark, while for
McAnespies it was Kevin McKernan.
Stephen Attride, Conor Daly, and Dessie Ward chipped in with a point each,
though in the latter stages of the half McAnespies missed some opportunities to
close the gaps with a handful of chances wide of the posts. 2-6 to 0-6 at the half in the Gaels favour.
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| Despite a lot of hard work Aidan McAnespies could not break down the Gaels defence. |
The Gaels were forced to work hard in defence in the second
half. It was do or die for McAnespies
and the northerners pushed hard from the restart to try and open up the Gaels
rearguard but could not find any space in which to operate. The Connemara men hassled and harried and
kept their opponents at bay. With that,
the Gaels struck with a third goal against the run of play, again from
Rafferty.
McAnespies built up some momentum and were putting plenty
of pressure on the Gaels defence. The
northerners closed the gap by two points after JP Gallagher and Conor Daly
pointed, but with 7 points standing between the teams, a goal was really needed
at that stage to make the game interesting.
Rafferty was still the main outlet for the Gaels and broke the
McAnespies pressure with a well taken point, and shortly afterwards completed
his hat trick after turning McAnespies defence inside out. It was a very good performance from the Gaels,
and sets the westerners up well for next week’s semi-final with table toppers, Wolfe
Tones.
Gaels: E. Connolly, L. Cullen, J. Wyndham, J. O’Shea, D.
Larkin, S. Conneely, F. Cooney, R. Hyde, C. Sheehan, R. Caffrey, J. O’Brien, R.
Rafferty, R. Kennedy.
Macs: R. McCrystal, J. Allen, M. Boyle, C. Daly, P.
Holloway, R. Reynolds, S. Daly, D. Ward, P. Daly, K. Mckernan, S. Attride, S.
Gillespie, A. Forde.
By Rory O'Donnell
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