SFL DIVISION 1A

KILMACANOGUE ANNACURRA 1-15 1-10

ANNACURRA headed north on the N11 to take on Kilmacanogue in the second game of the Division 1A relegation of the league on Wednesday evening last.

A fine summer’s evening for a game and a lot at stake for both teams, Annacurra opened the scoring from a long-range effort from midfield man Mick O’Brien.

The game had opened up at a fast pace as you would expect at this stage of the year. It didn’t take Kilmacanogue long to return fire and they racked up three scores from their half-forward line, 11, 10, 12 to leave it 0-3 to 0-1 after seven minutes.

The sun setting at the back of the home goal was playing havoc with the Annacurra backs and midfield and there was also a lot of handling errors around the middle.

Kilmacanogue’s Robert Conan was winning the aerial battle in the middle and Annacurra soon found themselves trailing by 0-6 to 0-3 with Kilmacanogue’s forwards moving very brightly but pulling all the strings was wing back Simon Doyle who most certainly has touch of a Brian Dooher about him.

Annacurra’s wing back and wing forward pairing of Alan Byrne And Gearoid Murphy were linking up very well together and kept the score board ticking over.

Kilmacanogue’s quick and direct ball into their forwards was proving unstoppable at times with five of their six forwards getting on the score board coming up to half-time.

Annacurra were dealt a lifeline just before half-time when Frank Clune fired a seriously well finished goal to the back of the net to leave it 0-11 to 1-5 to Kilmacanogue at the break.

The second half got under way and Annacurra won the throw in and Mick O’Brien tried another long effort but this time the radar was off.

Annacurra had made a slight change and brought corner-forward Frank Clune out around the middle.

This proved to be effective but not for long as he had to leave the field with an knock after only 10 minutes.

Then came another killer blow when a long ball sent into Josh O’Callaghan who caught over Glen Austin’s head to turn and fire low to the net to make it 1-11 to 1-6.

With time starting to slip away, Annacurra introduced Alan Horan and despite him only getting 15 minutes of play time he was probably their best player.

Both teams tired in the last 10 minutes but the Sugarloaf men will have come away the happier with the result of 1-15 to 1-10 with the visitors wasting a lot of chances to have salvaged something.

Scorers – Annacurra: Mick O’Brien 0-1, Frank Clune 1-2 (1f), Clive Horan 0-2 (1f), Alan Byrne 0-2, Gearoid Murphy 0-1, Shane O’Keeffe 0-1, Micheal Healy 0-1.

Kilmacanogue: Niall Meldon 0-3 (1f), Michael Whelan 0-3, Josh O’Callaghan 1-3 (1f), Andrew Molloy 0-1, Garreth Kelly 0-1, Simon Doyle 0-1, Aaron Creavin 0-2, Cormac Kelly 0-1.

Bob Fitzgerald, Shane McAllister, Martin O’Brien, James Keenan; Alan Byrne, Elliot Robinson, Glen Austin; Mick O’Brien, Paul McDonald; Micheal Healy, Clive Horan, Gearoid Murphy; Shane O’Keeffe, Ian McDonald, Frank CLune. Subs: Dean Barnes for G Austin, Alan Horan for F Clune (inj).

Niall King; Micheal Masterson, Cian Rafferty, Marcus Rafferty; Simon Doyle, Luke O’Callaghan, Gavan Burke; Andrew Molloy, Robert Conan; Michael Whelan, Niall Meldon, Josh O’Callaghan; Cormac Kelly, Aaron Creavin, Garreth Kelly.

Noel Kinsella (Kilbride)