Annacurra faced up to St Mary’s in the replay of the first round championship match after the first match was drawn on a scoreline of Annacurra 1-13, St Mary’s 2-10. Again the faithful who followed the Green and Gold headed up to Baltinglas to watch the second outing against the group team from the South.

Annacurra opened the scoring and took an early lead with a point from the boot of Ian McDonald from a free. This was the only time that Annacurra lead during the match though and St Mary’s quickly took levelled the match a minute later and proceeded to take a 5 point lead by the 16th minute with a a goal and two points. The goal was a well worked effort from the St Mary’s attack when they moved the ball at pace up the field running at the Annacurra defence and creating an overlap in their inside forwards that setup the goal.

St Mary’s  were dominating the play at that stage, particularly in the mid field. With the two Jackman’s running the show at midfield where Annacurra were under pressure to make any headway. The St Mary’s men were also putting Annacurra under pressure with their inside forward line causing many problems for the Annacurra full back line but Paul McDonald who lined out at full back put in an excellent performance winning many vital balls in and around the square. Paul was also complimented by Liam Moules in the full back line who had an excellent game particularly with quick brakes up the field to carry ball and put St Mary’s under pressure. Jack O’Sullivan also put in a good shift at wing back and kept the men he was playing on, including Paddy Dalton for part of the second half, quite for much of the match.

Annacurra went in at half time 5 points behind and at half time Michael O’Brien was introduced in place of Shane McAllister for the second half. Michael had shipped a heavy knock in the first match and was still feeling the effects of that knock and the medication he was on for it and thus couldn’t start the game. This change lead to some positional changes with Ciaran Byrne going in corner back as Martin O’Brien took over wing back duties and Alan Horan moving to midfield and Bob Fitzgerald wing forward while Michael went into his best position at centre forward.

The second half did not go much better for Annacurra who were never able to get to grips with the game. What is interesting to note though is that St Mary’s actually scored slightly less this week than they did last week in the drawn match, by a difference of a single point as they scored 2 – 10 in the first game. The problem this time around was obviously not centred around the defence. The quality of the ball that Annacurra were playing into their wing and inside forwards was not up to the quality of the drawn game and Annacurra’s use of the ball, particularly from the place ball was not great. The main problem though was that Annacurra could not get to grips with the game in the middle of the park. To be fair to the Annacurra men that lined out there this spoke more about the quality of the St Mary’s midfield than it did the Annacurra side.

The second half continued much as the first had and St Mary’s continued to dominate and close the game out as Annacurra struggled for form without much of the possession.

Annacurra will now face the winners of Arklow Geraldines Ballymoney or An Tochar in the next qualifying round of the championship. Hopefully Annacurra can capitalise on the tough games that they have had in the championship and while today’s defeat was disappointing there are still positives to take from it. St Mary’s look like they are on the march for championship success maybe to the same extent as their first year out and Annacurra troubled them in the first match and were unlucky not to win. With Mick O’Brien hopefully back to full fitness and  dangerous forwards in the likes of Ian McDonald and Clive Horan along with a tough defence that made St Mary’s work hard for their scores this year is not over for Annacurra in senior championship by any means.

Full time score: Annacurra 0-6, St Marys 1-12

Annacurra Team: Michael Doyle, Shane McAllister, Paul McDonald, Liam Moules, Jack O’Sullivan, Vincent O’Flaherty, Ciaran Byrne, Alan Byrne, Robert Fitzgerald, Nevan O’Sullivan, Alan Horan, Stephen Murphy, Clive Horan, Ian McDonald, Martin O’Brien

Substitues: Michael O’Brien (used), John O’Neil, Patrick O’Neil, James Keenan, James Fitzgerald.

Scorer’s

Ian McDonald, 3 points, all from frees.

Clive Horan, 2 points, one from play and one from a free.

Nevan O’Sullivan, 1 point from play.