Boston Northeast GAA

 

By Ciaran Molloy

 

A crunch match between two of Boston G.A.A.’s biggest  rivals began the action in he Irish Cultural centre in Canton on Sunday. The MacAnespies went into the game buoyed by an emphatic victory over Armagh Notre Dame in last weeks fixture and looked to build on this against a strong looking Donegal team.
The game began with a sharp tempo but remained scrappy in the opening stages, with players from both sides fighting doggedly for possession. The MacAnespies took the early advantage on the scoreboard with a few well taken points, the first of which was a fine score from the boot of 6.
The Macs then had an opportunity to boost their early two point lead, but 12 failed to capitalise on a one-on-one bringing a great save from Donegal stopper 1. This failure was redeemed to a lesser degree when the forward kicked MacAnespies third point a little later, and 5 turned this into a four point lead with a good break forward immediately after.
Through a tidy defensive display, with the Mac’s back lines did well to mop up any pressure asserted by the Tír Chonaill men and it took until nearly half time for Donegal to make their mark on the score board with 9 pegging one point back. In the mean time, both keepers had been busy making super saves, with 1 of Tyrone knocking an arrowed shot onto the crossbar before clearing the ball to safety.
The same keeper was unfortunate soon after when an innocuous looking ball dropped to the edge of the small square and a mix up with a corner led to Christopher Rush finishing the half with an opportunistic goal and Tyrone scored another point to make it 0-5 to 1-1 at half time.
The Macs began the second half in exactly the same way with Dermot McCrudden kicking another fine score from distance. This time round, Donegal replied with a point to reduce it to a minimum and sub Eamonn McCarney brought the sides level after five minutes of free flowing football. The Tyrone side refused to let Donegal pull away and the elusive McCrudden putting the Macs ahead with two points from play.
The battle continued with Paul Boyce gaining one back for the green and gold of Donegal and they were so close to taking the lead when a another dropping ball caused confusion in the Macs penalty area, bouncing off the post and back into play. Again, McCrudden was at hand to increase the margin to two points but this seemed to spark an unhappy response from some Donegal players and a mini-brawl erupted on the pitch, resulting in two Donegal receiving their marching orders while the MacAnespies were also reduced to twelve men.
From here, the sides traded two points each as Donegal tried to overcome the odds but their inability to take the lead at any point during the ultimately cost them. Despite this, they put up a brave fight and provided a very entertaining game. The Macs had the superior players on the day, not least McCrudden who finished the game with an impressive tally of 0-7 and rightly deserves the title of man of the match.

The Shamrocks ladies entered this game still smarting from a poor showing against rivals Tír na nóg last week. Despite the loss, places in the semi finals are still up for grabs and both sides hoped to take one step closer to securing their place in the knock outs.
Roscommon were looking to be no push over’s and began the scoring with an early point. The Shamrocks responded to equalise with an over and were soon three points to the good with a well taken goal from 13. It was clear that this was a good avenue for the Shamrocks to use in their pursuit of scores and time and time again they seeked to play through their speedy corner forward.
Further points were added and with Roscommon a point behind, the ladies were unlucky not to find the net through 17. Seizing on a poor kick out, the corner forward attempted to lob the goal keeper while still racing back to her line. The shot was just off target, clipping the post on its way wide.
For the remainder of the half, and indeed the opening ten in the second half, it was the Roscommon keeper who dominated preceedings, pulling off a hat trick of crucial saves including two from forward Morgan. With Kelly in seemingly unbeatable form, the Roscommon ladies were given freedom to roam forward and two goals in quick succession put the canary yellows in the driving seat. However this was short-lived, and as the Shamrocks forwards continued to find openings in the Ros’ defence, Kelly was beaten twice to turn the three point margin in their favour.
The Boston side then had an opportunity to double this advantage but had a goal disallowed for a square ball offence. Again, the player of the match Kelly was called into action, making another point-blank stop to keep her side in the match, but the Shamrocks sealed an impressive victory with 1-2 in the closing stages to make it 4-10 to 3-5 at final whistle.

League leaders Tipperary faced the challenge of Wexford in the weekend’s lone Hurling fixture in Canton on Sunday. Tipp remained the only unbeaten side in the league with two wins from two while the Yellow Bellies have had a less successful campaign to date with two points from two games. With such few teams in the competition (five), every point is invaluable and this contest proved to be the case as two hard hitting and determined sides fought it out to gain two on offer today.
Tipperary had the best start, flying out of the traps and opening the scoring with two fine points early on. The Premiers looked to be settling when out of the blue, a goal for Wexford changed the flow of the game after a high ball in was not dealt with and a Wexford hurl somehow connected with the sliotar and sent it trickling over the line.
In the hot sunshine tempers soon began to fray and the referee began to earn his corn with one Tipperary forward rightly receiving his marching orders for an altercation with an opponent. Wexford were finally getting in gear and four points to Tipp’s two meant that they were now edging out their rivals on the scoreboard also. Indeed this could have been a greater advantage if Dwyer of Wexford had opted to shoot with his hurl rather than his foot but his tame effort was easily saved by the Tipperary keeper.
The keeper was not as lucky a little later as his opposite number dropped a free right over his head and into the net with a deadly accurate placed ball from over a hundred metres and the score at half time was 2-6 to 0-5.
Tipperary emerged for the second half with a renewed spirit and immediately set about retaining their unbeaten run with an expertly taken goal from forward Howard. After leading by eight points, this brought it back to five and in Hurling, no lead is a safe lead. This was never as apparent when the same forward nipped in to grab his second goal and a resurgent Tipp side were again looking good to take another league scalp at the hands of Wexford. However, despite their nickname as yellow bellies the men of Wexford are made of far greater stuff and denied Tipperary an impressive comeback win with some great hurling and four crucial points brought them level with Tipp at the top of the Senior Hurling league.

Under a baking sun in Canton, the MacAnespies were too hot to handle for a Mayo side who themselves are not short of talent. Going into this game, both teams were even on games played and with the Macs winning each of their three opening games, the Tyrone side are beginning to emerge as title favourites to many while Mayo trailed four points behind in mid-table.
With Donegal leading the way in the league with four wins from four, Aidan MacAnespie’s aimed to follow the trend and Mayo always had their work cut out for them. A strong, fast and powerful side throughout the park, the Macs actually struggled to contain the small and nippy Mayo forwards, with the first two points coming from the Connaught men. After these opening stages, the White and Red of MacAnespies began to settle into the game, implementing a fine brand of flowing football and were soon four points ahead, thanks in particular to the pace and movement of the lightening Colm McRory at half forward. After conceding six points on the trot Mayo got their third from the boot of McAllister who worked valiantly to keep his team in the contest.
The Macs strengths were visible all through the park, with the defence winning the vast majority of individual battles at the back and the midfield dominant and dictating possession, the task became all the more impossible for Mayo to overcome. Point after point was added with Mac’s MacRory involved in creating or scoring nearly every one and half time’s score line certainly did not flatter the Tyrone based outfit at 0-11 to 0-3.
There was no let up after half time and MacAnespies continued where they left off, with McRory working well to set up Maguire for a point. The Macs had total control of the match at this stage and even goal by Mayo failed to warrant even a celebration. The onslaught continued and although there were many notable performances, the one player Mayo had no answer for was the dynamo that was McRory. The forward showed great hunger and provided an ever ready outlet each time MacAnespies emerged with the ball. The player was efficient and effective, scoring, assisting and using possession every time he touched it. In appropriate fashion, McRory rounded off proceedings by scoring Mac’s first and only goal, finishing the game with a personal tally of 1-13 to leave the score at 1-19 to 1-05 at full time.

Propping up the senior league after a luckless run of three straight defeats, Cork aimed to score their first win of the season against Armagh Notre Dame who were also pointless at throw in. with two postponements to last week’s scheduled fixture against local rivals Galway, Armagh began the game having played one game less than their opponents, while taking advantage of an extended break after having a ‘bye’ from the previous week of fixtures.
Since then the Orchard County men have added to their side, including Tyrone All-Ireland U-21 winner Damien Burke and the returning Niall Lennon from Armagh coming in to take part in the team’s quest for success this year.
It was not only the two points but pride was also at stake in the headline fixture in Canton and neither team wanted to continue their run of defeats. With a more settled side, Cork began swifter and looked to have strong players all over the field. This included two full forwards who were well able to find their range and it was the combination of Coakley and Lyons who helped the rebels to an early 1-2 to 0-1 lead over their opponents.
This partnership lasted only until midway through the first half when the latter had to be replaced due to injury and this was a great loss to the side but they continued to battle on, working hard to manoeuvre some fine team scores along the way. Unfortunately for Cork, the Armagh engine really began to click as minutes ticked on, and with new recruits Lennon and Burke beginning to shine in defence and Darren Gilsenan proving to be a tricky customer in attack, Notre Dame kept with their opponents. An scoreline of 1-7 to 0-9 in favour of Cork reflected this.
The second half remained in similar fashion. Everything Cork threw at Armagh, the latter threw back at them. A change of goalkeeper proved to be an unwise decision for the rebel soon into the second period and Armagh began to rattle the net, hitting it on three consecutive occasions, veteran forward Maguire helping himself to two. Cork looked to be dead and buried when reduced to twelve men after an off the ball incident. Then, Cork themselves retrieved a goal, unlocking an Armagh defence that had been looking sturdy until Monahan fired a rifle to bring the rebels back into it. This set up a nervy ending and yet more drama followed when Cork gained another goal with a fine finish past the keeper but that was it and Armagh took the much needed points leaving Cork trailing at the foot of the table.
Man of the match goes to Darren Gilsenan who remained a constant threat to Cork and alleviated the early pressure on his side by taking possession at any given opportunity, retaining it well and firing some fine scores to give Armagh their first points of this year’s league campaign.