Category Archives: Match Reports

Annacurra versus Ballymanus

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While Annacurra’s previous Wicklow League Division 1 game against Tinahely was bathed in glorious sunshine, their most recent outing which took place in the beautifully picturesque setting of Billy Byrne Park, Askanagap was bathed in well, water. The recent enjoyable sunshine has departed and left in its place wet overcast weather and that is what faced the players, officials and supporters for both Annacurra and Ballymanus as they forced themselves out of bed for the early 11:30 kick off, got to early mass, (for those of them who aren’t heathens like your correspondent), and got lost on the way up to the Billies home pitch, to watch the two local rivals line out against each other in the senior league this bank holiday Sunday.

The conditions were going to make football difficult. While the Billies pitch was well maintained the surface was still very wet and greasy due to the recent rainfall. This provided difficulties for the players in maintaining their footing and keeping control of the ball. Indeed there were a number of instances of players slipping while moving across the wet surface and many handling errors because of the slippery ball, particularly at the beginning of the match as the opposing sides grappled to get used to the conditions and each other.

Annacurra opened the scoring on the 4th minute when Clive Horan stroked a well worked point over the Billies black spot from open play. Ballymanus responded in kind and leveled the scores with a Mícheál Stapleton point from play. This was to be the last time in the game that Ballymanus were level with Annacurra and within 15 minutes the Annacurra men despite the difficult playing conditions had a 4 point lead.

Ian McDonald re-opened the Annacurra lead on the 9th minute with an assured free from a medium distance and Alan Byrne roared up the field from the kickout to claim the first of his scores from play that were to set the tone for his impressive performance. Just two minutes later he repeated the act and scored his second valuable point from play. Peter Clancy then increased the Annacurra margin to 4 on the 15th minute with a well taken point from play.

This signalled a resurgence from Ballymanus and they reacted with their second point on the 19th minute and their third on the 23rd to make the scores 5 points to Annacurra and 3 to Annacurra. The Billies were starting to assert their dominance on the play with their midfield coming into the game and Mícheál Stapleton who started at centre forward looking particularly threatening. Annacurra in previous games have had a tendency to go out of the match in the crucial few minutes before and after the interval. So things were not looking the best at this stage for the men in the green and gold.

However, cometh the hour, cometh the man as they say, or in this case the men.

With the Wicklow senior footballers unfortunate defeat to Meath last weekend the Annacurra men on the county panel were available for club action again. Alan Byrne and Frank Clune returned to the fold and showed why Harry Murphy and before him Mick O’Dwyer had put their faith in them. In Fact Frank lined out during the junior match against Kiltegan during the week in a display of just how eager he was to get into competitive football.

With the Billies entering the ascendancy and Annacurra’s tendency not to do well just before or after the interval it was important for the leaders on the Annacurra team to front up and Annacurras’ two county men did just that. First was Alan with a wonder goal stuck on the 27th minute which was incredibly important to re-assert Annacura’s control of the match. It was all the more spectacular for that fact that despite slipping on the greasy surface Alan still managed to direct a fantastic shot past the Ballymanus goalkeeper from beyond the 21 yard line and into the bottom left hand corner of the net. Your correspondent has not yet had a chance to speak to Alan about his effort but it is fully expected that Alan will assert his intention to rattle the net all along as he lined up his shot and it was not just a fortuitous accident that he fell on his backside when going for a point and fluked a goal as some disbelievers may have mistakenly thought on the sideline.

This put Annacurra 1 – 5 to 3 points up with three minutes of the first half left to play. Annacurra then continued to close out the first half in a positive manner by earning a 45 from the Ballymanus men that Frank Clune approached coolly and calmly to display his leadership abilities to duly put the ball over the bar and make the lead at halftime 6 points to the Annacurra good.

Alan lined out in the Annacurra half back line alongside Vincent Flaherty at centre back and Martin O’Brien on the other wing. All three in the half back line did well. Alan was responsible for winning much ball throughout the field, be it breaking ball from kick outs or timely interventions between the Annacurra 45 and 65 yard lines to rob his man of possession. All the way up to interceptions between Ballyamnus’s 21 and 45 after he had sortied into the opposition half to put them under pressure. This along with his vital on field leadership, his scoring tally of 1 – 2 and the excellent balls he played into the Annacurra forwards in addition to his penetrating runs that wrought havoc in the oppostions defense earned him the AnnacurraGAAClub.com man of the match award, although there were other contenders for this accolade also.

Vincent Flaherty unfortunately had to be substituted on the 45 minute mark because of a hamstring strain he picked up during his supreme efforts as centre back. Hopefully Vincent will be ok for the forthcoming Annacurra fixtures as he has dominated the centre back position of late and added stability and strength to the Annacurra defence. His performance against the Billies was no different, opposing players found it incredibly difficult to break through the Green and Gold wall positioned on the Annacurra 45 yard line that Vincent was in no small part responsible for erecting. This combined with fine ball played into the Annacurra forwards and the timely point he scored in the second half rounded off an outstanding game by the converted Carnew man.

When Vincent had to come off injured Nevan O’Sullivan got the nod over his older brother Jack because of Jacks responsibilities with his forthcoming leaving cert examinations and came on in the left half back positions. Nevan did not disappoint for the 15 minutes or thereabouts of the match he played. While Annacurra were never really threatened during Nevan’s tour on the pitch he still defended admirably when called upon to and his efforts in the Ballymanus half of the field were impressive. His work rate and commitment were heartening to see from such a young player. Martin O’Brien dominated the other half back position for Annacurra and covered the centre half back one when Vincent had to be taken off. Again Martin’s efforts were herculean. His intelligent use of space when playing ball into the forwards was very threatening to the opposition and his defensive duties were never shirked or under par. Martin has come into his own in the last few games this year and should take heart and satisfaction from his efforts of late.

Again Robert Fitzgerald lined out between the posts for Annacurra and had to put his body on the line in the  second half to keep out a long range ball floated at the Annacurra goal which lead to him jumping into the upright in what could have been a nasty knock. Luckily however he was unhurt and had cleared his line. Bob successfully kept a clean sheet and proved very competent under any highball the Billies speculatively floated into the Annacurra square while his kick outs were long distance and accurate, providing the basis for much of Annacurra’s large share of the possession.

In front of Bob stood the indomitable full back trio of Neil Henry, Ciaran Byrne and Liam Moules. Niall Henry took the place of Shane McAllister who was still celebrating his marriage to his new wife Aideen and AnnacurraGAAClub.com would like to take this oppurtunity to pass on our best wishes for the happy couples future together. Congratulations Shane and Aideen!

While Neil may have had to understudy in the corner back position this year he certainly proved his worth and shouted out for a starting position in the future. Liam and Shane had better be on their best performances with Neil looking over their shoulders in the manner he is. Luckily enough Liam Moules was giving his usual best performance, despite having to help Shane and Aideen celebrate their marriage and still suffering for such he managed to put in an excellent performance. Matching Liams excellent performance was also the performance of Ciaran Byrne at full back who once again look strong and assured in front of the Annacurra large rectangle. The fact that little can be written about the three stalwarts in the full back line is really because there was relatively little ball making its way into the Ballymanus inside forwards and that ball that did make it in was effectively dealt with by the three men in the full back line.

Someone else who was suffering from the joyous celebration of Shane and Aideen’s wedding was Mick O’Brien who lined out at half forward. This either had no effect on Mick or he just fought through the lack of sleep and used it as motivation to redouble his efforts. Mick has had a resurgence in the Annacurra half forward line this year upon his return to the squad after being unavailable due to work commitments and a wet Sunday morning in Askanagap was no different as he plucked high balls out of the sodden sky to turn the screw on the Billies when needed. He was ably assisted on the other wing by Shane O’Keeffe who has also found form on his move to the 45 from the inside forwards. Once again Shane looked committed and busy around the park and his blistering runs and incisive balls into the inside forwards helped to brighten up a day made miserable by the conditions. However the star of the half forward line on Sunday had to be Clive Horan who very narrowly lost out on the AnnacurraGAAClub.com man of the match award. Clive scored two important points, both from play at critical junctures of the game but his biggest contribution was between the 45 yard lines where he covered much ground and won any ball that came near him and some that weren’t that close to him at all. At one stage while surrounded by a forest of Billies players, with the ball on the deck and having been forced to his knees Clive managed to still play the ball excellently with one foot out of the thicket of Ballymanus men and to one of his own.

The redoutable pairing of Peter Clancy and Paul McDonald once again lined out in the middle of park. Peter made a lot of “air” during the match as he leaped into the overcast sky reaching for every ball that approached the middle third of pitch. He was responsible for cleanly winning or breaking to Annacurra’s advantage a lot of ball from both sides kickouts. Meanwhile Paul McDonald as usual put himself about the field making life uncomfortable for any Billy that came near him and putting them under pressure while they were in possession. He also tracked back into the Annacurra half several times to help his comrades in defence and was unlucky to not get on the score sheet with two good efforts that narrowly went wide, including one from his less favoured left boot.

The team was rounded out in the inside forward line by Patrick Moules and Frank Clune in the corners and Ian McDonald at full forward. Despite a large amount of the possession being in Annacurra’s favour during the game there was still somewhat of a lack of scorable ball into the danger men in front of the Billies goal to allow them to show their their potential. Frank racked up three very good scores, one each from play, a free and a very well struck 45 and looked dangerous and sharp when he was on the ball while spraying it around the inside forwards despite his lack of match practice lately due to his county commitments. Ian scored a point from a free and was on the ball several times to lay passes off to his fellow forwards and make threatening runs, while Patrick looked threatening and dangerous when on the ball and making defence splitting off the ball runs.

When we returned for the second half the Annacurra men faded a bit and the Billies opened the scoring on the 32nd minute to make the match 1 -6 to 4 points in Annacurra’s favour. While the Green and Gold had dominated the closing part of the first half they were less dominant in the opening minutes of the second half and may wish to improve their focus in future games to try to control the restart better if possible. Also of concern was the lack of conversion of possession and scoring changes into scores. While running out 7 point eventual winners was obviously a fantastic result for the derry men it could have been more if more of the chances and sorties into the Billies half had been capitalised on. However, to be fair the conditions made scoring difficult and this would have have had a large impact on the conversion attempts so it is not all bad news.

While the Billies may have opened the scoring in the second half and asserted an early dominance after the restart the men from Annacurra didn’t let that phase them and in a 13 minute portion of the second half between the 34th and 47th minutes they took control of the match and put the game beyond the Billies by scoring 4 points without responce to put the match on a sure footing of 1 – 10 to 4 points with just over 10 minutes left to play. Frank got two of the points, one from play and one free while Vinny and Clive also tacked on points of their own to turn the screw on the Ballymanus men.

The Billies then started a late rally to score two points before the close of play but it was too late for the men from the hills at that stage and the game was sealed in Annacurra’s favour.

This result was a great one for Annacurra as it puts them in 5th place in Division 1. (Please see here for the division table). Not only does it hopefully secure Annacurra’s tenure in the top flight for next year but it also offers the tantalising opportunity of a semi final place if we can keep up the good form and the results go our way. Lets not get too carried away with ourselves though, there’s still a long road to go with another 6 league games to be played including tough opposition against the likes of Rathnew and Blessington.

In the not too distant future though Annacurra open their championship campaign against An Tochar at 1:30 on Sunday the 10th of June in Aughrim. This is a big match for the lads and we would like to wish them the best of luck and ask all Annacurra supporters to try to turn out to shout the Green and Gold on and show their support.

AnnacurraGAAClub.com would like to wish much lluck to Jack O’Sullivan as he sits his leaving cert this week.

Final score: Annacurra 1-10 – Ballymanus 0-6

AnnacurraGAAClub.com Man of the Match: Alan Byrne

Annacurra Team:
Robert Fitzgerald, Neil Henry, Ciaran Byrne, Liam Moules, Martin O’Brien, Vincent Flaherty, Alan Byrne, Peter Clancy, Paul McDonald, Michael O’Brien, Clive Horan, Shane O’Keefe, Patrick Moules, Ian McDonald, Frank Clune.

Subs:
Nevan O’Sullivan (for Liam Moules on 45mins), Jack O’Sullivan, James Fitzgerald, Jack Keenan, Chris Keogh.

James, Jack Keenan and Chris all came on at the end of the match just before the referee blew the final whistle and were unlucky to not get more time on the ball to showcase their skills and abilities.

Annacurra Scorers:
Clive Horan: 2 points (both from play)
Ian McDonald: 1 point (free)
Alan Byrne: 1 – 2 (all from play)
Peter Clancy: 1 point (play)
Frank Clune: 3 points, (1 45, 1 from play and 1 free)
Vincent Flaherty: 1 point from play

Annacurra versus Tinahely

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Annacurra versus Tinahely – Match report

Summer came to Annacurra on Friday the 25th of May 2012 when Annacurra and local rivals Tinahely faced each other in the Wicklow Senior Football League under a blazing sun in Joey Doyle park Annacurra.

Only a point separated the teams in the league table, Annacurra on 6 and Tinahely on 5, so this was going to be a crucial match in the lower half of the division for both parishes as they work hard to retain their division one statuses and put daylight between themselves and the bottom of the table.

Tinahely opened the scoring in the second minute when one of their midfielders found himself free in the Annacurra large rectangle and blasted the ball into the back of the net to put them a goal to no score up and cast a cloud over the sunlight in Annacurra for the local supporters.

Annacurra fronted up to their opposition though and by the 18th minute of play had established a 2 point lead after having two decent opportunities to respond to Tinahely in kind with goals of their own. First, Patrick Moules shot from an acute angle into the village end goal narrowly missed the mark and then a rasper from Michael O’Brien which struck the crossbar will surely lead to someone having to check the woodwork for any damage. Tinahely’s goal may have cast a shadow over the scoreline in the park but the efforts from the Annacurra men were beginning to burst them through the clouds.

Step in Ian McDonald to brighten the already stunning day for Annacurra when he opened the scoring for Annacurra on the 5th minute with a well taken free from a difficult angle. He then popped up on the 10th minute to chase a ball that was going towards the end line and hooked it over the bar with a fantastic right footed effort from the ground with an acute angle for the score of the match.

Ian continued his good work on the 10th and 12th minutes with two more points from play and a free respectively to put Annacurra a point to the good. Vincent Flaherty then increased the margin with a superb run from his position at centre back through the heart of the Tinahely defence to score a point. Tinahely responded with a point on the 20th minute to reduce the margin back to the minimum with a scoreline of 6 points for Annacurra to Tinahely’s 1 – 1.

Martin O’Brien then got the first of his two points of the match only for Tinahely to respond with 2 points of their own on the 28th and 29th minutes to leave the minimum in it again and so it stayed at half time. As happened the last day out against AGB in the dogtrack Annacurra lost the championship minutes, the 5 minutes before and the 5 after the interval. Annacurra came out the worse over that period of the match by 2 points to no score. This is somewhere that the lads and management may want to look to for improvement in what was otherwise a shining display of attractive football by the Derry men.

When play resumed after the interval Martin O’Brien popped up on the 35th minute to get his second point of the game and pave the way for the Annacurra ascendancy in the match. Martin had a very good game in the half back line. Breaking up much of the oppositions attack and winning many important balls and breaks. His two points came at important junctures in the game to keep the Annacurra scoreboard ticking over and his distribution of balls into the forwards was excellent.

Martin was ably assisted by Jack O’Sullivan in the opposite wing back position whose man didn’t have the best of days due to the attention Jack was paying him. Jacks run’s into the forwards looked dangerous and were threatening to the Tinahely defence. Sandwiched between Martin and Jack was Vincent Flaherty at centre back. Vinny was one of the contenders for the AnnacurraGaaClub man of the match award but was very narrowly pipped at the post by one of his fellow defenders. Vinny showed for every ball that came his way and dominated the essential centre back ground. Very little if any at all ball made it through the middle to threaten the Annacurra line and the point Vinny scored capped off an excellent performance.

Annacurra are blessed to have two stalwarts in the form of Liam Moules and Shane McAllister in the corner back positions. I don’t think there was a ball that either man went for that they didn’t win convincingly. Liam was the AnnacurraGaaClub.com man of the match, he was responsible for winning crucial ball close into the Annacurra goal at important stages to snuff out Tinahely offensive moves and his darting runs out of defence set up many of Annacurra’s scoring oppurtunities. His performance was capped by a well taken ball fisted over the Tinahely bar as the game closed out for the icing on his cake.

Shane also made a major contribution to what was a good day for Annacurra by being steady at the back as usual and cutting off many Tinahely attacks while also getting a well deserved point. He moved out onto the wing in the second half and his distribution of ball into the forwards and his actions in defence were the equal to those he had put in in the first half at corner back. Between Liam and Shane Ciaran Byrne lined out at full back where he had an excellent game as the linchpin of the defence. The fact that Tinahely had to make changes to bring a player on into the full forward position because of the game Ciaran was having summed up his performance. But probably more prescient was the fact that Ciaran kept anyone on him scoreless was a testament to his performance.

Robert Fitzgerald lined out in goal for the Green and Gold and again Annacurra were in good hands. His kick outs were excellent and once again he plucked balls out of the air in the second half that could have as easily crossed under Annacurra’s bar.

The one fact that best illustrates the herculean efforts of the brave men in the green and gold back division was that Tinahely failed to score at all in the second half. This was not however for a lack of possession or chances of scores created by the hard work and diligence of the men in red and white. They had a large number of wides and while Annacurra backs were constantly hassling and pressuring them when they went for their scores they will still be disappointed that they didn’t get a better rub of the grass and and a few more scores on the day. Had they managed to do so it would have been a much tighter game and anything could have happened. Annacurra won’t be as fortunate with an opposition as unlucky as Tinahely were on the day again when it comes to taking scoring chances they set up.

Peter Clancy was available for selection again and lined out in the number 8 jersey at midfield with Paul McDonald as his partner. Peter had to come off during the second half as he took a very hard knock during the game and hopefully he will be ok for Annacurra’s next match. While on the field though Peter made a great contribution to the game winning clean ball in the middle third and setting up many breaks for the half backs and forwards to run onto. He was ably assisted by Paul McDonald who was the engine room in the middle putting in the hard miles of running to cover between the two boxes as usual. The Annacurra midfield duo were in control for much of the match and the springboard for the bright day in the Green and Gold.

Shane O’Keefe, Clive Horan and Michael O’Brien lined out in the half forward line and all played well. Clive scored 4 of Annacurras’ points, three free’s and one from play. All came during the second half and that they contributed half of Annacurra’s eventual winning margin show’s how important his efforts were. The men on either side of him also had outstanding games. Shane as usual put himself about the field making dangerous runs and spraying threatening ball around the park while also popping up in defence at crucial junctures to ensure the opposition had no breathing space. Mick won any of the man to man competitions with his marker to assert his supremacy at half forward and dominate possession in the middle third of the field much to Tinahely’s detriment.

The inside forwards of Patrick Moules, Ian McDonald and Stephen Doyle saw less of the ball in the second half than in the first half and this is probably why they did not do even more damage to Tinahely. Ian had an outstanding first half scoring 5 points, two from play and as was already mentioned one was so good it is a contender for score of the season. Both Patrick and Stephen were replaced in the second half and this was probably more of a representation of the lack of ball going into them than anything. Stephen’s touch and distribution of the ball were as usual very effective and threatening to the opposition as he set up scoring chances. Patrick was just opening up to make and impact on the game when he was taken off so was probably a little unlucky in that.

James Fitzgerald and Nevan O’Sullivan came on relatively late in the game and did not have much of a chance to make an impact on the game unfortunately. Neil Henry replaced Peter Clancy when he had to come off injured and played well in the backs clearing up much important ball and disrupting the Tinahely attack. A bright proposition for the future.

While Martin O’Brien kept the scoreboard ticking over Clive Horan put daylight between Annacurra and Tinahely by scoring the next 4 points, 3 from free’s, to put Annacurra 12 points to 1 – 3 up on the 51st minute. The two talisman’s at corner back, Shane McAllister and Liam Moules, then slotted over the final two points to close out the game to Annacurra’s joy.

Tinahely have suffered greatly at the expense of the recession with so many of their young players having had to emigrate but they should still take positives from their game. They were unlucky to miss a high number of scoring chances that they earned by having a large share of the possession during the game. Stand out players for Tinahely included both of their wing backs, Anthony Darcy and Padraig Nolan, (I think that was his name, my apologies if that is incorrect). Both their half backs had outstanding games for Tinahely, garnering much possession in their half back line while breaking up many of the Annacurra attacks. They also menaced threateningly into the Annacurra half on many occasions to put Annacurra under threat.

As with every game Annacurra have room for improvement, the repeated loss of the championship minutes again and the luck they needed to not concede more scores to Tinahely are areas that more knowledgeable and experienced men than I might want to give some consideration to. However they ran out deserved winners after a strong performance by all who lined out in the green and gold and now sit in 9th place in the league with 8 points after 8 games played. Hopefully this will provide the platform they require to maintain their deserved division one status.

Full time score
Annacurra 0-14 – Tinahely 1-3

AnnacurraGAAClub.com Man of the match: Liam Moules

Annacurra team
Robert Fitzgerald, Shane McAllister, Ciaran Byrne, Liam Moules, Martin O’Brien, Vincent Flaherty, Jack O’Sullivan, Peter Clancy, Paul McDonald, Michael O’Brien, Clive Horan, Shane O’Keefe, Patrick Moules, Ian McDonald, Stephen Doyle

Subs:
James Fitzgerald (for Patrick Moules), Neil Henry (for Peter Clancy), Nevan O’Sullivan (for Stephen Doyle), John O’Neill, Jack Keenan, Colm Maher,

Annacurra scorers
Ian McDonald 5 points (2 frees), Clive Horan 4 points (3 frees), Martin O’Brien 2 points, Vincent Flaherty 1 point, Shane McAllister 1 point, Liam Moules 1 point.

Seniors play the Ger’s in Arklow

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The Senior team took on AGB in hard fought League game in the Dogtrack on Sunday Morning.

Over a weekend where many normally starting players were unavailable and a match scheduled for the awkward time of 11:30, Annacurra unsuccessfully tried to have the fixture changed. Things did not look good for the team at kick off. What could be considered a scratch line out of players forced upon the management and selectors because of circumstances and having to play a physically big Gers team on their home turf, it was looking like the team had a mountain to climb.

The Gers opened the scoring in the first minute with a point and it took Annacurra another 5 minutes to level the scores. Soon after which they pulled ahead by a point only for the Gers to reply quickly and just as fast to go 3 points to 2 up after 14 minutes. A period of tit for tat exchanges started with both teams on 5 points apiece after 20 minutes. The game looked like it was going to simmer there for a while as for a brief spell neither Annacurra nor the Gers could gain much traction. That is until the 26th minute when some loose defending in the Annacurra back division led to a goal for AGB. The Arklow men looked to be in the ascendancy.

But Annacurra displayed some battling qualities straight away to go back up the field and reply to the Gers goal with a point of their own. This battling quality was to prove vital for the Annacurra men later in the game as the Gers convincingly won the “Championship minutes”, the 5 minutes before and 5 after the interval. During that period the Arklow men outscored Annacurra by 4 points to no response to garner a 6 point lead at 5 minutes into the second half.

Things looked bleak for the 2010 Intermediate champions, they were 6 points down, playing a physically bigger team and without their star performers of Alan Byrne and Frank Clune who were on county duty. Also missing were Clive Horan and Peter Clancy, who usually line out in the key positions of centre forward and midfield respectively. Factor in the young age and inexperience of some of the players who are still playing minor and junior football and many would have written Annacurra off at that stage.

Importantly though the 15 men in the hallowed green and gold jerseys on the field didn’t write themselves off and had the self belief and determination to remember how they won the county Intermediate championship in 2010 and make it to the last 8 of the Senior championship in 2011.

The management team of Robert Doyle, John Horan and Tony Doyle reacted to the problem by bringing Chris Keogh on to play corner forward and the more experienced heads on the team showed leadership and passion but crucially the knowledge of how to close a game out to start a fight back.

On the 40 minute mark, while facing a 6 point deficit Annacurra took the ball into AGB’s large rectangle for one of the first times in the match and won a penalty. Opinions on the veracity of the penalty varied greatly in the stand and for the men in the green and blue of AGB on the pitch but the referee blew his whistle and spread his arms on the edge of the square to signal the spot kick.

Ian McDonald, who had been quite by his own high standards from play up to this point, lined up the shot and coolly and calmly stroked it into the back of the net to half the scoreline problem that faced Annacurra.

This signalled a resurgence in the Annacurra team and possibly had a negative impact on the mindset of the Arklow and Ballymoney men who were deserving leaders up to that point but felt hard done by by the penalty decision. They dropped their heads and began to let the game get on top of them from then on. This was most apparent in the fact that after the penalty on the 40 minute mark for Annacurra, the Gers only scored another point by the end of play.

The scores stood at Annacurra 1-6 and Arklow Geraldines Ballymoney 1-9 after the penalty on the 40th minute.

The first difficult step up the mountain had been taken but there were many more hard yards to be made. It was players like Mick O’Brien, in one of his first starts for the team of this campaign due to work commitments, who helped make those yards. Mick was relatively subdued in the first half as he fought for match fitness and sharpness but upped the ante in the second half to put in a crucial performance at half forward to win much needed primary possession in the middle third of the pitch. He was very much aided by a magnificent performance from his compatriot half forward Shane O’Keefe whose tireless work throughout the match was imperative to any success that Annacurra were looking at.

The midfield duo of Martin O’Brien and Paul McDonald put in stalwart performances and Paul’s efforts could only be described as barnstormingly good. The young farmer was a linchpin of both attack and defence and must have covered every blade of grass on the field at least twice at some stage. His biggest contribution though was in his hard fought battle to win position in the middle of the park. A role he repeatedly put his body on the line to do. Paul took some hard knocks during the game but after each one he simply picked himself up and worked harder for the next ball. His efforts and work ethic along with his skill at plucking a ball out of the blue sky deservedly won him the man of the match accolade from the AnnacurraGAAClub.com representative at the game, (Paul doesn’t drink so he’ll have to settle for a rock shandy the next time I see him in the Saltee).

Pauls stellar performance should not detract from his midfield partners, Martin O’Brien, performance though. Martin, who would have un-self consciously admitted that he was finding the transition from the backs to midfield this year difficult, managed to clear some of his demons away and turned in an excellent performance in the number 8 jersey. He hoovered up much of the breaking ball at midfield but his distribution of ball into the forwards was the catalyst for many of Annacurra’s much needed scores and his most important contribution to the game.

The Wicklow minors loss was Annacurra’s gain. Robert, (Bob), Fitzgerald, son of former chairman and club stalwart Martin and brother of James who lined out at corner forward, started between the sticks for Annacurra on Sunday as he had done for the county minors in their loss to Westmeath in the Leinster championship on Saturday. His young age didn’t show though and he couldn’t be faulted for the goal that flew past him but he demonstrated his potential with his long range and accurate kick outs that proved a vital platform for Annacurra’s attack. Plus the cool and effective way he dealt with the dangerous high ball that was lobbed into the Annacurra small rectangle by the Gers towards the end of the match signalled hope for the future between the Annacurra and Wicklow sticks.

While many of the team were relatively youthful and inexperienced there were 4 veteran heads in the Annacurra defence in the form of Liam Moules and Shane Mac in the corners between Ciaran the pound at full back and Vincent Flaherty at centre back. Annacurra GAA club has much to thank Veronica Carr for, not only her starring performances for the Camoige teams throughout the years but for bringing Vinny to the club from Carnew. Vinny lined out at centre back and added much needed physicality and determination to the Annacurra defence, being responsible for breaking up much of the oppositions advances into the Annacurra half and supporting the attack with good ball into the midfield and forwards.

The pound, like every other full back in history, will be disappointed that the Gers managed to rattle the Annacurra net in the first half but upped his game for the second and was responsible for cutting out a couple of crucial ball’s that made it threateningly into the AGB inside forwards towards the latter stages of the game. Balls that if they had been converted into scores could have proved disastrous for Annacurra.

Shane and Liam in the corners proved more than effective at cutting out any ball that came near them as usual in the first half but their biggest contribution to the Annacurra cause came in the second when they started to get onto the ball more in more advanced positions further up the park and pass threatening ball into the oppositions half of the pitch. Liam in particular made important runs up the field and Shane was responsible for cleaning up ball between the full and half forwards during the latter part of the second half that was vital.

If the more experienced men at numbers 2, 3, 4 and 6 were decisive the “boys” wearing the numbers 5 and 7 jerseys respectively offered even more hope for a bright sporting future if they continue to play football as they proved themselves to be men of young years. The brothers Jack and Nevan O’Sullivan lined out as the wing backs. Jack had a relatively subdued game by his own high potential but all the same he did not have a poor one, there were many players in the green and gold competing for plaudits and Jacks key performance in the number 5 jersey was more than adequate and his contribution was as vital as everyone elses. Nevan had a particularly good first half and was responsible in large measure for helping to keep Annacurra in touch at the interval through his dangerous runs into the oppositions half and his winning of much broken ball in the middle third.

With the backs and midfield providing the necessary platform for success and half forward pairing of Mick O’Brien and Shane O’Keefe proving influential the team turned to its centre forward for inspiration. Patrick Moules was playing in a position that he has had little familiarity with in recent times and because of this, his performance in the earlier stages might have been less marked than his performance to help close out the game towards the end. But like the rest of the team he upped his game after the crucial penalty and was responsible for winning much of the important ball on the Gers 45 that lead to the necessary scoring chances if Annacurra were to reverse the deficit and emerge victorious.

There was a deficit of ball going into the Annacurra inside forward line for them to threaten as much as they could have and as already mentioned Ian McDonald up until the end of the game had a somewhat quiet performance by his own standards. However, as the free taker in the absence of Clive and Frank he proved crucial by only missing one dead ball chance from distance and contributing well taken points from play. His inside forward partners of James Fitzgerald and Stephen Doyle were struggling somewhat in unfamiliar territory as they have both lined out in goal for Annacurra in the past. Credit to the both of them for the efforts they put in though. Stephen showed his footballing prowess with a number of dangerous off the ball runs and some defence opening passes as Annacurra piled the pressure on at the close of the game looking for a result. James must have been disappointed to have been substituted for Chris Keogh on the 37 minute mark as it was difficult for him to make his mark on the game in the unfamiliar territory of the inside forward line. Chris, (Jasper), Keogh made an impact when he came on though as he looked to get busy around the oppositions square and offer supporting options to the attacking moves the Annacurra men were making into the AGB half.

So, on the 40 minute mark the game seemed balanced on a knife point with a resurgent Annacurra facing a 3 point deficit to a strong and well performing AGB team.

The lads dug in, lifted their heads up and got on with a fight back. Within 2 minutes Annacurra tagged on another two points to reduce the deficit to the minimum only for the Gers to increase their lead back to 2 points on the 43 minute mark. This didn’t dent the men from Annacurra’s resolve though as they lifted themselves back up and carried on with the hard task facing them. Annacurra scored points on the 49th and 52nd minutes to level the match, (your correspondent regrets he didn’t take better note of who the crucial point scorers were and resolves to do so in the future), then in the 54th minute added another score from a placed ball by Ian McDonald to go a point ahead for the first time since the 8th minute.

The Gers had a man sent off for a second yellow card and in the first minute of stoppage time the men wearing the green and gold capitalised on the advantage of the extra man and added another point to make the margin that most dangerous of ones, a 2 pointer. Several nerve wracking minutes of extra time were then played with the Gers making strong efforts to threaten the Annacurra goal but to no avail as the Annacurra team rallied and fought hard to keep their lead and run out two point winners at the end.

Credit is due to the Arklow and Ballymoney men, while the final score might not have gone their way, it could have been a much different story but for the objected to penalty decision and they remained threatening up until the end. They can take heart from their game, if a few key decisions had been reversed they could have as easily won and would have been deserving victors had they done so.

Nor should this stellar performance from an under strength Annacurra team lead to complacency on their behalf. Not all results will go the same way for the green and gold and while overhauling a 6 point deficit is admirable, going 6 points down in a game is a problem that should be be avoided in the future. Plus in the context of this years league campaign, this was only one bright spark in what will be a hard fought campaign with tougher tests to come.

In summary, a fine performance was turned in by all, but with work still to be done and much hope for the future, Annacurra ran out deserved winners over a strong AGB side to put them on 6 points after 7 games in the league. A position that hopefully will aid them in staying in the top flight for next year.

The final score was: Annacurra 1 – 12, Arklow Geraldines Ballymoney 1 – 10

AnnacurraGAAClub.com Man of the Match: Paul McDonald

The Annacurra team lined out as follows.

Robert Fitzgerald, Liam Moules, Ciaran Byrne, Shane McAllister, Jack O’Sullivan, Vinny Flaherty, Nevan O’Sullivan, Martin O’Brien, Paul McDonald, Shane O’Keefe, Patrick Moules, Mick O’Brien, James Fitzgerald, Ian MacDonald, Stephen Doyle.

Subs: Chris Keogh (for James Fitzgerald on 37 mins or so), Dermot Murphy, John O’Neil and Jack Keenan.