February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Aiden McAnespies got off to a flying start and held on to beat Blues 2-11 to 2-7 Sunday at Canton.
Barry Fay sent Nigel Regan through for a well-taken goal with just three minutes gone. Regan added four more points, two from frees, before the half. Ross Hainsworth added two points and Steven McGill one and the only response from the Blues was just one point in the half by Mick Leonard.
The Blues made some changes at halftime, which got them back into the game. Garry Henry came on as a sub and had points the first and 12th minutes. Clinton Hennessy got into his stride with three points, two from 50s and one free, with no response from McAnespies, cutting the lead to four points.
Barry Fay had McAnespies’ first point of the half with 16 minutes gone. McAnespies seemed to get their second wind when Connor McKeever was pulled down and Nigel Regan scored the resulting penalty to make it an 8-point lead. Gervase Jones added two more points for McAnespies. David Burke and Dara Connelly picked off two late goals for the Blues. But it was too little too late.
Best for the Blues Brendan Driscoll, David Burke, Clinton Hennessy and Garry Henry and for McAnespies Steven McGill, Martin Harvey, Paddy McCusker, Russ Hainsworth and Nigel Regan.
In another senior game, Connemara Gaels hammered Donegal 2-4 to 0-6. The Gaels were by far the stronger team and Donegal continued to play the short passing game, which caused several punch ups in the second half. Donegal have a very young team and they learned a valuable lesson. Donegal’s Michael Ward was way off target on a few occasions. Michael McGinty, Seamus McKenna and Martin Boner tried hard to get Donegal back into the game.
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The Boston Shamrocks proved once again that they are one very good women’s team, registering a 3-8 to 0-3 victory over Tir Na nOg.
Tir Na nOg had a good first 20 minutes and were level at 3-all. But once Paula Callaghan got into her stride with a quick goal and a point, it was over as a contest. The Shamrocks went in at the half 1-5 to 0-3. The second half was mostly one way traffic for the Shamrocks.
In intermediate football, the Killes ran out easy winners over the Christophers on a score of 5-7 to 0-7 in spite of good performances by Jim Howard, George Long, Willie Lombard and Tom McElroy. Fergal Harney came on as a sub for the Killes and had two goals for his side. Liam Higgins was on target for 1-6, four from frees and Damien Lee was on target for a goal and a point. Also having a good game for the Killes was Lorcan Maughan at center field and Mickey Barber in goal.