McAnespies make it five in a row

By Connie Kelly

In a very tight and exciting game of football that saw both teams give it everything they had, McAnespies held on to win by a single point over Cork, 1-7 to 0-9.

It was Cork who raced out to an early lead with points by Anthony Buckley and Robert O’Mahoney inside five minutes and when Brendan Jer Sullivan’s shot came off the crossbar, Robert O’Mahoney was right there to bury the ball in the back of the net only to be disallowed as a square ball.

This fired up McAnespies as they came right up field to score a goal of their own by Nigel Regan who collected a pass from Paddy Stones.

Regan connected with Ollie Murphy a minute later for another point. Frank Delaney had Cork on the attack and Pat Dunlea had no problem splitting the post to leave just a point between the sides. Paddy Stones combined with Ollie Murphy to put his side up by two.

Cork were right back on the attack and it was sheer luck that Paddy McCusker got in front of Anthony’s shot on goal to deflect it over the bar.

Robert O’Mahoney had Cork level with a free and with both sides playing hard defensive football during the next five minutes, neither side could score.

At half time, both teams were level, 1-2 to 0-5.

The second half was every bit as tight as the first with scores hard to come by. Conor McKeever regained the lead for McAnespies after six minutes. Brendan Jer Sullivan tied it up with a free a minute later.

Sullivan put Cork ahead on another free. Gregory McCartan had McAnespies on the attack. The first shot hit the right post and with the rebound hitting the left post, it was third time lucky when Steven McGill sent it over the bar and once again the sides were level.

Cork gave up a free and McCartan put McAnespies one up.

Frank Delaney, who was having a solid game for Cork, sent Anthony Buckley through and again the sides were level.

Brendan Jer Sullivan and Ollie Murphy traded points, both from frees.

It took Ross Hainsworth’s long range shot to break the deadlock and put McAnespies one up with five minutes on the clock.

Cork piled on the pressure but some great defense by McAnespies’ backs forced Cork to shoot two wides.

Brendan Jer Sullivan had a chance to tie the game with a free but he was just wide of the mark.

With the game into injury time and Cork with a chance to equalize, the referee blew full time.

Not a popular decision for Cork as they lost by a score of 1-7 to 0-9.

Bitter pill for Donegal

A large crowd was on hand to watch Kerry face off with Donegal in what turned out to be a game of top class championship-style football. The final score was Kerry 2-11, Donegal 2-7.

Kerry were looking for their fourth win in a row while Donegal were fighting to stay alive in the championship.

Kerry, with some new faces in their line up, namely Jason Stokes, Kevin Madden and Pat Ahearn, raced out to an early lead when Denis Sayers passed off to Kevin Madden for the game’s first point.

Kerry added four more points from Mervin Fiord (2), Kevin Lynch (1), and Mark O’Brien (1), before Donegal opened their account with a point from Rory Gallagher.

Johnny McCafferty made it a 0-5 to 0- 2 game with just 15 minutes gone but Kerry, playing their best football of the season, were right back to add points by Mark O’Brien, Kevin Madden and Mervin Ford.

The Kerry backline of Brian Gerathy, Dermott Sheehy, Denis Sayers, Jason Stokes and Niall Healy were a complete nightmare for Donegal’s forwards. And they could only register two more points in the half, one by Mickey Ward and a free by Rory Gallagher, to leave it 0-8 to 0-4 at the half.

Donegal picked up the pace in the second half but it was Kerry’s Colin Doyle who had the opening point after a minute of play.

Rory Gallagher had two in a row from frees for Donegal and when Johnny McCafferty sailed one over, it was a two point game.

Kerry brought on Pat Ahearn for Kevin Lynch and Tommy O’Neill for Mike Doherty and started their revival which paid off nicely when Mervin Ford sent Colin Doyle through for the first goal of the game for Kerry after 16 minutes of play.

Just two minutes later, Donegal’s Mickey Ward went through for a goal which gave Donegal the lift they were looking for. But it was short-lived as Kerry were right back at them with two points by Kevin Madden. Donegal, however, had no intentions of throwing in the towel, attacking the Kerry line again and again. One of those attacks resulted in a penalty which Rory Gallagher buried in the back of the net and we had a one point game.

Kerry’s Sean Sullivan steadied the ship once again and with Kerry on the attack, the remaining minutes of the game were in the Donegal end. When Kevin Madden rounded his man, he buried the ball in the Donegal net, giving goalie Joe Madden no chance.

A tough loss for Donegal who have been knocking on the door for the past few years. Kerry now will take on Connemara Gaels next and the stiffest test of all will be Aiden McAnespies on August 6.

Senior hurling

In senior hurling, Tipperary ran out easy winners over Fr. Tom Burkes on a score of 1-15 to 0-9.

In a close first half, once again it was Chris Dunne who showed the crowd what an excellent shooter he is with six pints in the half, four from frees.

Niall Hayes and Sean Power had Tipp’s other two points. James Young had three for Fr. Toms and Rory Mallon one, to leave the half time score 0-8 to 0-4.

Dunne picked up where he left off in the second half with 1-5 of his team’s 1-7.

Fr. Toms’ goalie, Dermot Fox, had a fine game, pulling off some excellent saves while his counterpart, Clinton Hennessy, also had a very good outing between the posts for Tipperary.