Sun June 30 - Junior A Football: Donegal v Aidan McAnespies

Aidan McAnespies 1-11 Donegal 3-17

The Donegal junior A team put in an excellent 60 minutes to claim another 2 points in the championship table.  Kane Barrett at corner forward netted a hat trick and Corey Gallagher in the middle of the field helped the northerners keep control of matters farther out the field.  Despite the best efforts of McAnespies Donegal just had too many weapons for them to try and defend.

Kane Barrett and Eoin Delmer tussle for the ball.

After Conor Bogue opened the accounts with a point for McAnespies the opening half was dominated by Donegal.  Kane Barrett at corner forward was a handful for McAnespies.  Barrett, from Milford Co Donegal, netted twice in the period.  The first goal came after the teams went back and forth with Macs holding the one point lead.  Barrett netted from inside the box and Donegal were off the mark.

As the game progressed it was apparent that Donegal held the aces and put them work.  Dara Lowrey at wing forward and Corey Gallagher in the middle of the field saw plenty of ball and put it to good use.  Donegal almost netted a second time, however Niall Duffy pulled off a wonder save to keep the ball out.  Barrett was the target man inside and pointed three more, along with another goal from close range for his second major.  Michael Lynch managed a point for McAnespies, it was a magnificent score, but it was Donegal on a roll to a 2-8 to 0-3 half time lead.

Paul McNulty hanging on for dear life.

McAnespies lifted their efforts to start the second period.  Points from JP Gallagher and Eoin Gormley closed the gap, however Donegal had canceled them out with a couple of scores from Gallagher and Darren Grant.  Macs continued to work hard in spite of what seemed like an inevitable outcome at that stage.  Conor Bogue, Shane O’Brien and Cian Sharkely dug in, but the scores came hard for the Macs and seemed to come too easy for Donegal. 

O’Brien’s frustrations eventually got the better of him and the center forward was handed a red card following an off the ball incident.  Kane put the finishing touch on his hat trick soon afterwards with a shot to the far corner and Donegal were well out of sight and on their way to a second win in the junior A championship.

Macs:  Niall Duffy, Eoin Delmer, Sean Clifford, Shane McKenna, Cian Sharkley, Jimmy Rigney, Michael Lynch, Gareth O’Neill, Conor Bogue, Shane O’Brien, Eoin Gormley, JP Gallagher, Colm O’Malley.

Donegal:  Pauric McLaughlin, Paul McNulty, Mark Canney, Darren Doherty, Declan McBride, Liam Sage, Darren Grant, Corrie Gallagher, Dara Lowrey, Gavin Reilly, Ciaran McDevitt, Kane Barrett, Ashley Carr.

By Rory O'Donnell