Boston GAA Kerry, McAnespies fight to thrilling draw

By Connie Kelly

In one of the most entertaining games seen in Boston in many years, Kerry and McAnespies battled to a 1-12 all draw at Dilboy Stadium in Somerville.

As expected, this was a battle from start to finish with Kerry looking much sharper than their archrivals. The halftime score was Kerry 1-7, McAnespies 0-7.

Toward the end, with time ticking away, Kerry made a bad clearance and Conor McKeever punished them for it, sending over the equalizer.

But in injury time, Kerry’s Mark O’Brien had one last chance to pull it off. From 55 yards he was awarded a free, and with no more time to play, his shot was short of the mark.

Blues, Tones draw

In senior football, Shannon Blues drew with Wolfe Tones 1-7 to 0-10. In the runup to halftime, Pat Driscoll had the Blues fifth point to make it 0-5 to 0-3 for the Blues.

Six minutes into the second half, Driscoll went through for a goal and it looked all over for the Tones. But instead of throwing in the towel, the Tones came right back at the Blues and held them scoreless for the next 20 minutes.

With some excellent work by Ray Butler, Brendan Murray and Seamus Martin, they kept a steady supply of ball to their forwards, and after 26 minutes it was all even at 1-5 to 0-8. When Mick Salmon sent over a line ball, it looked like the Tones would hold out. But once again Dave Burke saved the day for the Blues with a point from a free as time ran out.

Cork beat Donegal

Donegal has to be asking themselves how did they lose the first senior game of the day with an 0-9 to 0-4 halftime lead and Cork on the ropes. But like so many times before, Cork came right back and prevailed, 2-11 to 0-13.

Senior hurling

In senior hurling, Tipperary defeated Galway by 2-15 to 0-10. Tipp had too much firepower and overcame Galway in the early stages of this game.

Declan O’Rourke had Tipp on the board after five minutes and John Murray evened things up, two minutes later, but without the services of Brendan Morrissey, Galway struggled for most of the hour, even with a good performance by Paul Dillon and John Murray.

Richard Gentleman and Kenny Laurance rattled the Galway net for a goal apiece, and points by Chris Dunne, O’Rourke, Laurance and Gentleman had Tipp ahead 2-5 to 0-5 at the half.

In the second half, Mike McGrath of Tipp was right on target with five points.

Easy for Connemara

In intermediate football, Connemara Gaels had an easy outing against Galway, winning by 3-15 to 0-3.

Galway are in the rebuilding stages after a year’s suspension and Connemara Gaels were regraded to intermediate for the first time in their history, so both teams are in a dilemma of sorts.

Camogie

In camogie, Emerald Isle beat last year’s champions, Eire Og, by 4-6 to 0-2.

Columbkilles lose

In the second senior game, Donegal came from behind to beat St. Columbkilles by 22-14 to 1-11.

The Killes had a one-point lead at the half, 1-6 to 0-8, thanks to the efforts of Johnny Walsh, Paul Dillon, Jerry McMahon, Mickey Barber and Liam Lenihan.

Donegal enjoyed a much better second half, racking up 2-6 to 0-5 for the Killes.

Intermediate

In intermediate, North American champions Notre Dame had a rather easy outing with the Christopher’s, winning by a score of 3-14 to 1-3.

Women

In women’s football, Innisfail failed to raise a flag, losing to the Boston Shamrocks 6-14 to nil.