Shelmaliers started their senior football championship in style with a well deserved win over St. Annes in Piercestown on Friday evening 24th April. Final score 2-13 to 1-6.
Four young Shels had their debutant outing for the senior team and all four put in powerful performances. Andre O’Brien was outstanding in defence, & Brian Doyle (0-3) and James Gordon (1-0) amongst the lead scorers and Joe Kelly when introduced got on the scoreboard immediately.
A great start to the Senior football championship for 2009. The Shels, with 4 debutants on the day, started brightest and were totally dominant at the start. However, their lack of match practice was evident and they missed 3 scoring chances in the opening section of the game, one of them a goal. Two points from Terry Gainfort (free) and Brian Malone put the Shels ahead. But the missed chances spurred St. Annes on and they set up 6 scoring chances during a dominant period and had 0-2 on the scoreboard. The tempo really increased then and Shels scored 0-4 before half time to 0-1 (a great score by Donal Berry) to make it 0-6 to 0-3.
In the second half St.Annes got the first score after a few minutes from a close range free by Jonathan Fogarty. Shels responded with a good point from Derek Walsh and a goal by Brian Malone (after the wet ball slipped through the arms of the St. Annes goalie). Within a few minutes, James Gordon finished an excellent goal to the back of the net after great work by Colin Redmond. The Shels were now in the driving seat with a score of 2-7 to 0-5. However, St. Annes responded almost immediately; a long ball found P.O’Keefe at corner forward and he finished to the net to make it 2-7 to 1-4. With everything to play for, the tempo really increased. Derek Walsh (free), B.Malone and B.Doyle all scored points while St. Annes scored 0-2 (0-1 free),making it 2-10 to 1-6. But in the final part of the game, the Shels totally took over. Joe Kelly and Tommy Barron were introduced and made an immediate impact scoring 0-1 each. Colin Redmond rounded off a great performance with a point, as full time approached.
A great all round performance with fine individual performances by Ciaran O’Shaughnessy, Aidan Murphy, Stephen Banville, Colin Redmond and the 4 debutants – Andre O’Brien, Brian Doyle, James Gordon and Joe Kelly.
Team
1. Paudie McMahon
2. Mark Walsh
3. Colm Tynan
4. Cathal Gaule
5. Ciaran O’Shaughnessy
6. Aidan Murphy
7. Andre O’Brien
8. Brian Malone
9. Stephen Banville
10. Brian Doyle
11. Alan Griffith
12. Colin Redmond
13. Derek Walsh
14. Terry Gainfort
15. James Gordon
Subs
Joe Kelly (0-1) for Terry Gainfort (47 mins)
Tommy Barron (0-1) for Alan Griffith (53 mins)