Maiden win for Anne’s as goals down Fethard
WELL-TAKEN goals from Andy Kennedy, Liam Rochford and Redmond Barry were pivotal as St. Anne’s earned their maiden win in Group A of the Tom Doyle Supplies Senior football championship in Innovate Wexford Park on Saturday.
The Rathangan-based outfit did look the better side for long periods of the contest, but they would have been really up against it had Fethard made the most of their early supremacy.
The seasiders started brightly with John Tubritt and Daniel Johnston both splitting the posts inside the opening five minutes, and in between those two points they came within a whisker of raising a green flag when Tubritt collected a pass from Richard Waters, but saw his angled drive come back off the butt of the left post.
However, Liam Rochford got St. Anne’s off the mark in the sixth minute with a nice point and they slowly began to take control.
Wexford F.C. defender Seán Kelly levelled matters with a free on 15 minutes, and moments later they illustrated their goal threat when David ‘Doc’ O’Connor burst through the middle, but blazed his effort well off target.
A minute later and Fethard goalkeeper Kieran Furlong was picking the ball out of his net after a well-worked goal from St. Anne’s.
Mikey O’Brien picked out Mark Furlong with a peach of a pass and he handpassed to Andy Kennedy, who finished well with his left boot.
Veteran Redmond Barry showed he has lost none of his class, popping over two trademark points in succession, before John Tubritt converted a free to leave St. Anne’s with a 1-4 to 0-3 advantage at the interval.
After Seán Kelly (free) opened the second-half scoring, Fethard showed signs that they might be capable of a revival with fine scores from Richard Waters and John Tubritt.
But after Kelly had dragged a goal chance wide, St. Anne’s well and truly knocked the stuffing out of the seasiders when Liam Rochford pounced for their second goal.
The wily Redmond Barry found Rochford in space and he wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity, blasting to the roof of the net.
Fethard kept plugging away and John Tubritt and Adam Swan pointed either side of a Seán Kelly free, but again the wind was taken out of their sails by a St. Anne’s major, with Redmond Barry doing the needful with 50 minutes on the clock.
Substitute Jonathan Fogarty found Barry on the edge of the square and he showed great composure to slide the ball to the net (3-6 to 0-7).
Fethard outscored their opponents by five points to one for the final ten minutes, but the damage had already been done.
The lively Richard Waters con- tributed three of those scores, one of which was close to being a three-pointer when his rasping drive grazed the top of the crossbar and went over.
Jimmy Sutton and Daire Barden also chipped in with points, with Redmond Barry completing the St. Anne’s scoring to take his personal tally to 1-3.
St. Anne’s: Paul Brennan; Páraic O’Keeffe, Seán Gaul, Kenny Cloney; Mikey O’Brien, Diarmuid O’Keeffe, Finn O’Driscoll; Mark Furlong, David O’Connor; Jess Codd, Liam Rochford (1-1), Mikey Fogarty; Andy Kennedy (1-0), Seán Kelly (0-3 frees), Redmond Barry (1-3). Subs. - Jonathan Fogarty for O’Connor (36), Ben Moore for Furlong (45), Barry Roche for Cloney (57).
Fethard: Kieran Furlong; Martin Doyle, Daniel Mullan, Martin Power (capt.); Christopher Molloy, Graham O’Grady, Jimmy Sutton (0-1); Daire Barden (0-1), Daniel Johnston (0-1); Adam Swan (0-1), John Tubritt (0-4, 2 frees), Richard Waters (0-4, 1 free); Joe Sutton, Darren Foley, Mark Wallace. Subs. - Kevin Rowe for Foley (HT), Jean-Luc Tubritt for Swan (53), Jesse Foley for John Tubritt (53).
Referee: James Mullally (Gusserane).