February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Connie Kelly
McAnespies 2-13, Blues 2-10
One could feel the tension before the start of Sunday’s showdown between Shannon Blues vs. Aiden McAnespies clash.
. Nigel Regan sent over a free to open the scoring after three minutes. Martin Harvey put Joe McNally through for a well-taken goal two minutes later, and Regan was right back with another point from play and the scoreboard read McAnespies 1-2 with just 6 minutes gone.
But Kieran Maher, the man with the big heart, started a rally for the Blues, finding Steve McGuire who had the Blues’s first point. McGuire added another from a free and again Maher found O’Neill and a quick pass to Ken Killeen who sent a rocket to the back of the net, giving Tom Harty no chance at all.
McAnespies lifted their game a bit and picked off four lovely points by Darren Farmer, three from frees. Conor McKeever scored 2 and McNally got 1, but McGuire came back with five points for the Blues to end the half at 1-9 to 1-7.
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The second half saw both teams ease off the pace. McNally’s goal drew a big cheer from the crowd 20 minutes into the half. But again the Blues came right back into this game with points from Conneely (2) and McGuire (1). Farmer, Regan and McKeever added points for McAnespies.
But again, McGuire made a game of this when he buried the ball in the back of the net. With just three points between the sides, the Blues made an all-out effort, but once again McAnespies held on to win by 2-13 to 2-10.
Best for the winners were Martin Heavey, Darren Farmer, Paddy Stones and Joe McNally, and for the Blues, Fermanagh man Steve McGuire, Kieran Maher and Brendan Driscoll.
Mayo, Donegal Win
Mayo had an easy win over Wolfe Tones in the second senior game by a score of 4-10 to 1-11. And Donegal beat St. Pats 2-11 to 0-9 in the third senior game of the afternoon.
Tipp, Cork draw
The senior hurling did not live up to expectations with Tipperary and Cork playing to a 1-8 all draw.
Ladies Games
All four women’s teams played during the weekend. On Saturday, the Boston Shamrocks were too strong for Roscommon 7-11 to 2-1., and on Sunday, Tir na nOg over Inisfail 2-10 to 1-3.
McAnespies juniors pulled off two good wins; on Wednesday over Connemara Gaels 2-11 to 1-4 and on Sunday over Wolfe Tones 6-8 to 1-2.
Junior Hurling
In junior hurling on Thursday evening, fans were treated to a fine game of hurling. In one of the best games seen this year, Tipperary edged out Fr. Toms on a score of 3-7 to 0-12. Solid performances were turned in by Johnny O’Connor 1-3 and John Young in the back line for Tipperary and Fr. Toms were well served by Seamie Higgins and Pat Costello.
Junior Football
In junior football on Saturday, Kerry shocked Donegal with a fine performance, winning by a score of 3-13 to 3-4.
Best for Kerry in the backs were Timmy O’Neil and Seamus Buckley and, up front, Ken Murphy, Neil Kelly, while McKenna and Kieran O’Shea dominated midfield.
Patrick McGill was best for Donegal, scoring 2-4. Barry Brown scored a goal.