Annaghdown come through in dour encounter

Annaghdown 1-15

Moycullen 2-7

Dara Bradley at Pearse Stadium

ANNAGHDOWN qualified for the last sixteen; Moycullen are plunged into a relegation battle. Both teams deserve what they got for their respective performances on Sunday . . . but the ‘bigger picture’ of this back-door clash at Pearse Stadium is that it was reflective of the general malaise of Galway football.

For one, there wasn’t much interest in it: Only a few handfuls of ‘die-hard’ supporters from both parishes were present in Salthill to witness a game that was pretty important for both clubs.

Numbers of spectators aside, it was the quality of fare that really disappointed. The standard of football on show from two of the top 20 senior teams in the county was quite shocking at times. It really was turgid for periods; intermediate standard, at best, in most other counties.

It was quite possibly Moycullen’s most disjointed performance since they were promoted from intermediate a few years back. And while they did register 16 scores, Annaghdown won’t be fooled into thinking that a repeat of a performance of this nature will result in anything other than defeat in the next round.

There is huge room for improvement from both sides, who in fairness, were both hit with first-choice absentees through injury and immigration. Maybe it was the weather – it really was humid and close in Pearse Stadium – but the first quarter of this encounter, a period when you’d expect teams fighting to remain in the championship and avoid relegation to go ‘hell for leather’, was particularly pedestrian.

During the opening 15 minutes, Annaghdown were as spritely and lively as the average resident of a nursing home; Moycullen were worse . . . as static and flat-footed as occupants of a morgue. 

We won’t dwell on it too long: A point from Moycullen’s Gareth Bradshaw, who started at full-forward, after 25 seconds, and a ‘45 from Kevin O’Donovan, was cancelled out by a brace of frees from Damien Burke and a white flag from wing-forward Niall Kinneen to give Annaghdown a slender lead, 0-3 to 0-2.

In fairness to Annaghdown, they did liven up for the remainder of the half when Willie Hughes’ charges took control and established an eight points to two advantage after 29 minutes with full-forward Damien Burke and Kinneen, who was probably the best forward on show throughout the hour, along with Ger Raftery, doing the damage. Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune.