Baltinglass showed why many have tipped them to regain their County Senior crown this year with an impressive win over Annacurra. Annacurra were missing many key players with John Thompson, Ciaran Byrne, Clive Horan and Mark O’Neill all out and Alan Byrne still tied to the County footballers. Baltinglass fielded a very experienced team with the majority of the team having played County football at a certain level. Annacurra also welcomed back Shane O’Keefe and Ian McDonald ffrom minor duty with Wicklow.

Baltinglass were on the attack from the very start and had 2 points to their name before Annacurra registered their first score from a Frank clune free after Martin O’Brien was fouled 20 yards out. Conor foley and Frank Clune traded scores for both teams as the first half got off to a slow start. However the remaining 15 minutes saw another free kicked over from Frank and a good Patrick Moules score from play, but Baltinglass scored 4 points and a fortunate goal. A nice move up the wing saw J.P Kelly play a ball across the Annacurra goal. Liam Moules slid and intercepted the ball but it seemed to get stuck in the muck around the Annacurra goal allowing Henry Sinnott to drive home. The half time score read Baltinglass 1-7 Annacurra 0-4.

Baltinglass started the second half the way they finished the first with Ciaran Foley, Peader Burke and Conor Foley all scoring early points. Another free from Frank Clune put a temporary stop to the Baltinglass onslaught. Frees from J.P Kelly and Conor Foley(2) extended the Baltinglass lead before Frank scored his 5th point of the day from the dead ball. After a period of deadlock, the Baltinglass full forward was deemed to have been fouled in the square and a penalty was awarded to the home team. This was excellently put away by Anthony Nolan right into the top corner. Pierce O’Brien finished the scoring for Annacurra with a fine point after a lovely run by Frank Clune. This was followed by a lovely point by the impressive Conor Foley who kicked points of either foot during the game. Baltinglass finished the game with a third goal after a move up the pitch. Annacurra can take positives from today’s game as playing opposition like this can only make the players better.

M.Doyle, L.Moules, P.McDonald, S.McAllister, D.Thompson, P.O’Brien (0-1), S.O’Neill, A.Horan, Mick O’Brien, M.Healy, William Codd, P.Moules (0-1), S.O’Keefe, F.Clune (0-5(5f)), Martin O’Brien

subs: I.McDonald for M.Healy, C.Shannon for D.Thompson, Warren Codd for Mick O’Brien, E.Clune for S.O’Keefe, C.Maher for MartinO’Brien