O’Keeffe floors Tinahely
ANNACURRA 2-15 TINAHELY 2-12
A stunning second half performance from Annacurra’s Shane O’Keeffe secured victory for the home side in this excellent Division 4 South East league clash against Tinahely last Thursday evening.
A point and two missile strikes of goals from the corner-forward within five minutes of each other dragged Annacurra back from six points down with three minutes gone in the second period to parity after 10.
A further five points from play by the unstoppable O’Keeffe drove the Annacurra men on to a memorable victory over a gallant Tinahely who never threw in the towel with a late David Dillon goal making this a drama right to the end.
There were some wonderful passages of play from both teams in this game and some of the highest quality scoring you’re likely to see in any game at any grade in the county.
The home team started the better and led by 0-03 to 0-00 after seven minutes thanks to points from Glenn Austin, Gearoid Murphy and the near unmarkable O’Keeffe.
Tinahely gathered their thoughts and got down to work and by half-time had turned the game on its head with points from Stewart Gilbert, Willie Quaile, Bill Kavanagh, two excellently struck 45s and a free from midfielder Anthony Phelan, and a rocket of a goal from corner-forward Sean Pollard to see them leading by 1-06 to 0-05.
Tinahely had pushed the lead out to 1-08 to 0-05 shortly after the restart but then O’Keeffe kicked into gear and Tinahely were left reeling by the tricky tormentor and Annacurra ran out winners by 2-15 to 2-12 on a beautiful summer’s evening.
Annacurra: Sammy Walker; Jack Keenan, Sean O’Neill, Brian Shannon; James Walsh, Shane O’Neil, Paddy O’Neill; John Hynes, Gearoid Murphy; Glenn Austin, Peter Clancy, Diarmuid Murphy; Shane O’Keeffe, Niall Short, John O’Neill. Subs:
Tinahely: Stephen Nolan; Thomas Dalton, Tony Lacey, Joey Hedderman; Willie Quaile, Jamie Cullen, Ray McGlynn (7); Anthony Phelan, Kevin Doyle; Eric Donohue, Stewart Gilbert, Enda O’Keeffe; Bill Kavanagh, David Dillon, Sean Pollard.