Boston Northeast GAA

Match Reports 7-26-09

by Ciaran Molloy

The first in a double header between these sides saw the Juniors of Fr. Tom Murphy’s take their first points of the season from a depleted Galway side with a complete performance to seal the win. The hero on the day was forward Jamie Moore who tormented his opponents and scored a total of 0-9 to spearhead his teams victory in a game they dominated from start to finish. The goal came from an incredible strike by Wexford native Shane Sinnott while the defensive unit of James Brett and Seanie O’Brien remained solid to deny Galway any consolation from this defeat.

With the season currently at the halfway stage and the league beginning to take shape, two teams under threat of being left behind faced each other hoping to make a positive step in their push for places in this year’s semi finals. Both Armagh and Kerry had been neck and neck in the table recently until Kerry’s fine win over high flying St. Christophers keeping them in contention for a run at the Senior Championship this magnified the importance of taking a win from the game. While Kerry have hit form, Notre Dame were less impressive in their last game and were looking to recreate the form which led them to victory over Cork in their only win this season.
After conceding six goals in their last game, Armagh were anxious to keep things tighter in this fixture and were looking equally prolific with a three pointer from Neil Jordan after the first attack. Just like the week before, the early lead was short lived as a loose ball into the box was not dealt with and Kerry brought back the deficit with their first goal of the game. Agian, the Armagh net was under siege and Kerry found their third from the penalty spot after a long run from Kiely was halted illegally and the forward dispatched a shot calmly past the goalkeeper.
Over the course of the first half both sides shared equal possession and Armagh did create more chance for scores but were struggling to take them under pressure from the Kingdom defence while the men of Kerry were far more accurate, hitting six in the first half, mostly from play and this made the half time score 2-6 to 1-3.
The supreme fitness of a strong Kerry side began to shine threw as they found Armagh’s Achilles heel in that department. The Orchard County ran out of steam and succumbed to another goal midway through the second half when Kiely got on the end of a good move to run through and chip a delightful lob over the stranded goalkeeper. Armagh did find the net for their second but too little too late as Kerry’s ability to convert possession into scores told with a final scoreline of 3-13 to 2-4 to move the Munster side further up the table.

Galway sail past Rebel

Cork 1-8 v Galway 0-18

The battle at the bottom meant that it would be either Cork or Galway’s chance to break their duck and seal their first points of the season in Canton on Sunday. For one it would be a welcome relief to finally taste victory while also heaping misery on their fellow strugglers. In fact, both have played well recently and put in good performances against strong opposition last weekend, making for an intriguing contest this time round.
Galway started enthusiastically and were going direct for goal from the very start with Adrian Kelly unlucky not to win a penalty after a strong tackle from the Cork keeper. The ref waved play on but the nippy forward was involved in giving his side an early three point lead, creating a free for Brian Hanlon to tap over and scoring the other two himself after a few driving runs. Hanlon was in superb form from place kicks and from play, adding a further three points to make it 0-6 to no score with barely fifteen minutes on the clock. A personal competition between the two forwards began to emerge as Kelly tapped over his third before Cork finally found one when Kieran Connolly rushed through the heart of Galways defence to finish for a point. But Galway were in no mood for niceties and restored their seven point advantage with a lovely point from Walsh. Their keeper was also helping deny Cork and pulled off a great save from Connolly after a good attack set up by midfielder Wesley O’Brien. This resulted in a point for the rebels and they hit a third soon later with a well worked short free kick and Coakley knocking over a lovely curling shot.
Galway were still picking holes in Corks defence and had the next chance on goal, again the net minder coming out on top with Greg Rogan seeing his shot well saved and the rebound just rolled wide at the post. The scoreline at half time stood at 0-11 to 0-3 with Galway’s Peter Nolan and Sean Gallagher finding the target from range.
The pairing of Hanlon and Kelly resumed their business after the restart as the latter set up his team mate for an easy score. The Tribesmen then might have felt harshly done by as Cork were awarded a penalty for a similar challenge to the earlier incident in their own square earlier, but Connolly could not capitalise on the penalty with a score as Doherty in the Galway net made a good block. The drama continued as Cork introduced sub Kevin McCarthy and the player immediately won his side another penalty after being dragged down. This time, Coakley led the way and buried a low effort into the corner to launch a comeback.
The forward remained a constant thorn in Galways side and some good running helped create frees from which the same player hit three consecutive points. But the unstoppable partnership at the other end continued their pursuit and were doing exactly the same by winning frees and knocking them over to keep their opponents a safe distance behind. Cork battled on bravely and refused to give up and with less than ten minutes remaining were boosted by the sending off of the Galway full back for a second yellow. However, the reds could only manage one more point from a Coakley free and Galway held out for a 0-18 to 1-8 victory to clinch their first win of the season.
Man of the match could have been Niall Coakley of Cork but for a slow start and although Hanlon was in good scoring form, Kelly just pipped his fellow full forward for his work rate and clever movement to create scores for his team.

Fr. Tom’s finally win

Fr. Tom Burkes 4-14 v Galway 0-10

After seeing their senior footballers defeat the bottom team in the league, Galway hurlers were looking for much of the same against their opponents Fr. Tom’s in Canton on Sunday. With Tipperary pegging league leaders Wexford back on Saturday night, the opportunity for the Tribesmen to catch up was on the cards.
Tom’s, who are on a luckless run of no wins this season, looked as if their fortunes were changing early on with Callinan finding the net from close range with the first effort of the game on goal. Galway half back Kinsella found range with his sides first score soon after but the score was 1-3 to a point a while later with Callinan converting a free and Healy picked up a breaking ball to race through and fire over a good point from the 45 metre mark.
Callinan then hit another free before Galway had their first effort on goal as a fourteen yard free was destined for the net with the keeper just tapping over with his hurl. Both sides traded several points from frees as the game struggled to find any real flow, with Callinan accurate on four occasions to keep the pressure on Galway. Fr. Tom’s were in dreamland with another two goals coming before half time, the first after some good work by Trevor Kelly to set up Cuddy for a close range finish and then their full forward pounced on a loose ball coming off the upright to tap in their third to catch hit Galway with a sucker punch. This knocked the wind out of Galways sails and the Tom’s went on to claim a half time scoreline of 3-9 to 0-6 with some super finishing on show particularly from the potent Callinan who hit some wonderful points from play to see out the half.
Galway knew that they would have to go in the search of goals in order to bring themselves back into the game and were unlucky with a chance early in the second half as their full forward caught a high ball and got inside his man but somehow couldn’t squeeze his shot into the net with the sliotar just staying out. A point was Galways consolation but with the Tom’s forwards in great form, this was soon cancelled out by two good points at the other end. Galways next opportunity for goal emerged in similar fashion with the full forward again finding himself in possession just outside the small square and this time he was dragged down for a penalty, but Moylan’s effort was again saved by the unbeatable Fr. Tom’s goalkeeper as the net remained intact.
Galway then suffered further heartache after being awarded their second penalty and again seen it saved by Bandan in goals. The second half remained relatively low scoring as the men in maroon focussed on finding the all elusive goal and their failure in doing so eventually cost them the game.
With Callinan in fine form the Tom’s were always in control and the forward had some competition for man of the match with his team mate Bandan in nets but for his superb shooting in both half the forward deserves his tag.

Macs burst Donegal’s bubble

Aidan MacAnespies 0-12 v Donegal 0-7

The tie of the round threw together league heavy weights Donegal and MacAnespies for a top of the table clash that has been eagerly anticipated with both sides dominating this year’s proceedings. Little needed saying about the importance of this match to both sides and with Donegal leading the way in the league, the question remained of MacAnespies’ desire to overcome their great opponents.
The game opened with a cagey display from both sides as possession traded hands on many occasions and many players guilty of losing the ball cheaply. Challenges flew in thick and fast and the early pace of the game was immense, leading to the first opportunity being presented to the Macs hit a simple point after a good save from the Donegal goalkeeper. The goalkeeper made another fine stop from Jamie Kelly before Alan Nestor added a second to take the Macs further ahead and a free from Colm Donnelly made the advantage three. The trustworthy Kevin Curran took Donegals first score but suddenly the game opened up and it was the MacAnespies who capitalised with four points on the trot, the last of which coming from a clever score from Rory Maguire, who punched the ball over his own head with his back to goal.
Donegal were clearly struggling to contain the Macs forwards and were almost caught out by the speed of McRory as the forward received a ball around the 45 and raced through the middle on goal. As the reliable forward bore down on goal, he was about to pull the trigger before Laois man Cahir Healy came from nowhere to produce an incredible block and deny his counterpart. Donegal hit the next score through a free from their very own dangerman Eddie Mannion but this did not dampen the MacAnespies’ spirits and they continued to press on goal.
McRory was involved in the opportunity, this time beating marker Healy before crossing to a team mate at the back post but his pass was agonisingly cut out by a Donegal defender and again the chance went a begging. The dynamic full forward finished the half with a free to make it 0-8 to 0-2 in his teams favour and with Donegal struggling to make an impact and once again depending on keeper Murphy to maintain a respectable scoreline.
The first score of the second half came from Eddie Mannion after a good long ball played in and the corner forward finished coolly under pressure from the full back but the Tyrone side worked the ball straight up the other end for Mark McGovern to sail over a point from wide out on the sideline. The Tír Chonaill men appeared to be resurgent and fought hard for the next two scores and finally were starting to show the form of league leaders reducing the deficit to four points. They were then hit with a superb reply after a typical short free found its way to Hudson to sidestepped a Donegal defender and curled the shot high and over the bar to make it double scores. McRory knocked over another free before Donegal’s Fergal Murphy was in action again, but this time adding to scoreline instead from a well placed 45.
The keeper at the other end was then eager to get involved and produced a fine stop to deny Donegal a goal soon later as they pushed for goal and they were guilty of missing two further kicks for points as time ticked on. Paddy Kelly showed his team mates how to do it with a good score to reduce it again to four points but could not break the four point barrier MacAnespies had built. MacAdam made it five once again with an accurate shot from distance but the ball was in his teams net within seconds as Hoey punched a high dropping ball into the net but much to Donegal’s dismay, the goal was ruled out for square ball. His side launched another tirade on the Macs goal but were shut out by some ruthless defending and the team in white emerged with the ball. Kelly battled on to reduce the disadvantage by one but again the reply came from the Macs who finished the game with a convincing five point victory and take the spoils and the bragging rights after a great display all round.