ACFL
Div 2: Annaclone 0-13 Shamrocks
1-07
Annaclone put their push
for promotion back on track at home to
Newry Shamrocks on Friday night. The
hangover from the defeat on Monday night
took a while to shake off and Shamrocks
took advantage with 4 early points
compared to a single free from Colm
Fegan for the locals. A great score from
Paul Byrne woke Annaclone up and they
levelled the game up through two Colm
Fegan free kicks. Just as the home side
seemed to settle the Newry side grabbed
a goal from nowhere and followed that up
with two points to stretch their lead.
Colm Fegan reduced the deficit with yet
another free and two points either side
of half time from Martin Farrell gave
Annaclone a great boost of confidence.
Aidan Fegan then stepped
up to the plate and in great spell for
Annaclone knocked over four points to a
single score for the visitors. Gary
McArdle and the players round him had a
great second half and gave away nothing,
that single free being the only score
for Shamrocks in the half. Paul Byrne
capped off a fine performance with a
great individual score.
Colm Fegan unusually
missed a penalty in the last few minutes
but won the resulting kick out and put
Dan McCusker through for the last score
of the game. Shamrocks had one more
chance on goal but Brian McGivern saved
well from close range to keep the lead
in tact.
Annaclone’s defence
deserves a lot of credit for the win for
absorbing the pressure of the first half
and holding so tight in the second. In
midfield, Martin McAleenan and Brendan
McArdle, and later John Fegan, all won a
lot of ball and worked tirelessly
throughout. Up front Paul Byrne and
Martin Farrell were always showing and
got some good scores while the Fegan
brothers showed their worth again with
great tally each.
Team: B McGivern, K
McNeill, G McArdle, E McGivern, C
McConville, P McColgan, T Pyers, M
McAleenan, B McArdle, C Fegan (0-4), C
Farrell, G Byrne, Paul Byrne (0-2), A
Fegan (0-4) & M Farrell (0-2). Subs
used: J Fegan for B McArdle, G Fegan for
G Byrne, D McCusker (0-1) for K McNeill,
S Byrne, M Wallace & Paddy Byrne.
