PAT’S IN FINE FORM
O’Brien’s men see off depleted Annacurra side
SFC GROUP 1 at Pearse’s Park, Arklow
THIS Round 2 clash between St Patrick’s and Annacurra in the Renault Senior Football Championship saw two teams entering the fray from two very different perspectives with Casey O’Brien’s men hoping to continue on their winning way while John Hynes’ side were hoping to bounce back following their opening day dismissal by Blessington.
In the end it was the stronger St Patrick’s side who emerged victorious with a seven-point victory after they held off the challenge of Annacurra thanks to a good solid all-round team performance.
The winning margin should have been much more as Casey O’Briens troops missed several scoring chances which included two goals while Bob Fitzgerald in the Annacurra goal produced some excellent saves to keep a clean sheet which kept the contest very much alive right to the end. There’s no doubt that St Pat’s will have to engineer a vast improvement in their shooting in the games that lie ahead.
Annacurra had received a boost late in the week with the news that Stephen Murphy’s appeal against a straight red card in the Blessington game had proved sucessful. Murphy had been shown the line by referee John O’Brien after appearing to strike with the elbow.
However, they were without attacker Frank Clune who was married last week and this loss in their attack proved costly indeed.
The game started off in real championship fever as two committed teams went head to head with the pattern of play flow from end to end with both defences on top which left scores scarce in the early moments.
During the opening 12 minutes no score was registered, with St Pat’s being guilty of four missed chances before Stephen Duffy opening the scoring with a point from a free after 12 minutes while the winners added another point following a move involving several players which saw Stephen Duffy add another point from play while Ciaran Doyle, playing in a new role at wing forward, split the Annacurra defence to edge the winners further ahead with an excellent point from play to give the winners a 0-3 to 0-0 at the end of the first quarter.
A brief rally by the challenges saw a long ball delivered to full-forward Ian McDonald and he won possession and escaped the clutches of a tight-making full-back line to open the Annacurra scoring with a point from play.
Pat’s upped the tempo and launched three attacks in a row. The first saw a bad wide while Bob Fitzgerald denied inter-county player John Crowe a goal with great save. However, a late tackle on Crowe proved costly to the Annacurra defence as Stephen Duffy showed his ability as a top marksman with a pointed free to give the winners a three-point lead of 0-4 to 0-1 after 20 minutes.
One of Annacurra’s top players, Gearoid Murphy, reduced the lead with a point from a free. At this stage Pat’s found their rhythm and they produced the free flowing football they are renowned for and with Dean Healy showing the form he has produced with the county team during the year as he set up two moves which saw both corner-forwards, Ciaran McGettigan and Paul O’Brien add a point each (both from play) while the Wicklow town side went on to add two more while Ian McDonald closed the first half scoring with a late point deep into injury time which saw the winners leading 0-8 to 0-3 at the break
The opening minutes of the second half saw both teams exchange points through Mick O’Brien and Paul O’Brien while Gearoid Murphy showed what talent he has with an excellent point from play to reduce the deficit six minutes into the second half and leave the score board reading 0-9 to 0-5.
At this stage fitness began to tell as St Patrick’s took the game to their opponents once more and with good team work the Blues started to use the wide-open spaces which saw Annacurra play second fiddle to their superior opponents which saw Jordan Petticrew land a point as the winners hunted in packs while saw fullback Shane Morley surged upfield to score a point while dual player Shane Doyle scored a point from a 45 to give to give the winners a commanding lead of 0-12 to 0-5 at the end of the third quarter.
Veteran Clive Horan landed a point from play which brought a quick response from the winners which resulted in Conor French splitting the defence before recording a wide. Clive Horan and Stephen Duffy exchanged a point each, but a battling Annacura hit back with Clive Horan and Gearoid Murphy recording a point each to leave the score board reading 0-13 to 0-8.
The remainder of the game saw both teams battle to the end with the winners outscoring Annacurra by three points to one. Substitute Ronan Murray was fouled as he headed towards goal which saw Stephen Duffy land a point from the free, a quick response from Annacurra saw Alan Byrne carve his way towards goal and lay off a perfect pass to Clive Horan who scored his third point for the hour.
The winners went on to add two more points, one from Ciaran McGettigan, the second from Stephen Duffy to leave St Patrick’s worthy winners.
With blend of youth and experience, Casey O’Brien’s men are moving along nicely having recorded two straight wins in the campaign which much have pleased O’Brien and his backroom team.
Annacurra now face a crunch tie against Baltinglass as they look to rescue their season. Playing without the talented Frank Clune and operating from a skeleton panel left them with a steep hill to climb in this encounter.
Both teams deserve credit for their commitment they showed in a game that was played in real championship fever which saw referee John Keenan stamp his authority on the game.
Scorers - St Patrick’s: Stephen Duffy 0-8 (4f), Paul O’Brien 0-2, Ciaran McGettigan 0-2, Shane Morley 0-1, Shane Doyle 0-1 (45), Ciaran Doyle 0 1, Jordan Petticrew 0 1.
Annacurra: Gearoid Murphy 0-3 (1f), Clive Horan 0-3 (2f), Ian McDonald 0-2, Mick O’Brien 0 1.
St Patrick’s: Ian Murphy; Padraic Higgins, Shane Morley, Wayne Doyle; Simon Boucher, Conor Ffrench, Aidan Dunne; John Crowe, Shane Doyle; Ciaran McGettigan, Dean Healy, Ciaran Doyle; Jordan Petticrew, Stephen Duffy, Paul O’Brien. Subs: Ronan Murray for Dean Healy (BS), Rory Marron for Ciaran Doyle, Patrick O Cean for Simon Boucher. Jack Dunne for Stephen Duffy.
Annacurra: Bob Fitzgerald; Liam Moules, Martin O’Brien, Shane McAlister; Paul McDonald, Elliot Robinson, Alan Byrne; Stephen Murphy, Mick O’Brien; Dean Barnes, Gearoid Murphy, Jim Keenan; Clive Horan, Ian McDonald, Shane O’Keeffe. Subs: Michael Healy for Jim Keenan, Alan Horan for Dean Barnes, Jim Keenan for Paul McDonald (BS), Dean Barnes for Michael Healy.
Referee: John Keenan (Aughrim).