by Ronan Fagan: Shelmaliers 2-10, St. Anne’s 0-11
A two-goal salvo from teenager Ross Banville eased Shelmaliers into a seventh Tom Doyle Supplies county SFC semi-final within the space of eleven years when overcoming stubborn St. Anne’s at Innovate Wexford Park on Sunday afternoon.
In fact, Banville wasted absolutely no time in raising a green-flag, as he swept in from the left flank to locate the town-end net inside a mere 22 seconds for the opening score.
While Mayo native Seán Kelly obliged from frees for the Anne’s to peg it back to 1-0 to 0-2, the Shels were denied a second goal when Eoghan Nolan crashed his shot off the crossbar in the ninth-minute.
Nevertheless, AJ Lehane and Simon Donohoe made it 1-2 to 0-2 before eager St. Anne’s got it back to the minimum courtesy of Kelly (free) and Diarmuid O’Keeffe.
Kelly also forced a smart save before the Shels pounced at the other end of the field to generate daylight as AJ Lehane, Craig McCabe, Ross Banville and Conor Hearne opened-up a 1-6 to 0-4 gap after 27 minutes.
Seán Kelly kept things interesting when his fourth conversion from a free cut the margin to 1-6 to 0-5 at half-time.
But there was a considerable let off for the Anne’s when Shels’ captain Eoin Doyle went agonisingly close to netting in the dying embers of the half.
The tie resumed with an exchange of points before St. Anne’s sub Jonathan Fogarty endured a well-timed challenge as he went for goal.
The hard-working Seán Kelly was also unfortunate to crash a goal-bound drive off the crossbar midway through the half. Regardless, the Anne’s kept the Shels honest as points from Kelly (2), ‘Dee’ O’Keeffe and Redmond Barry closed the margin to 1-8 to 0-10 after 51 minutes.
But the Shels enjoyed a massive breakthrough in the 53rd-minute when a pass close to goal by Ross Banville eluded everybody to finish up in the net and blow open a 2-8 to 0-10 divide, and, in a rather mundane affair, the Over-the-Water men saw out the game to make back-to-back semi-finals.
Shelmaliers – James Gordon, André O’Brien, James Cash, Ciarán O’Shaughnessy, Glen Malone, Graham Staples, Simon Donohoe (0-2), Brian Malone, Eoghan Nolan, Jody Donohoe, Eoin Doyle, Ross Banville (2-1), AJ Lehane (0-2), Craig McCabe (0-3, 1 free), Conor Hearne (0-2).
Subs: Seán Keane-Carroll for Jody Donohoe; Páraic O’Leary for Eoin Doyle.
St. Anne’s – Paul Brennan, Páraic O’Keeffe, Tomás Cullen, Kenny Clooney, Michael O’Brien, Seán Gaul, Fionn O’Driscoll, David O’Connor, Michael Fogarty, Liam Rochford, Diarmuid O’Keeffe (0-2), Liam Óg McGovern, Mark Furlong (0-1), Redmond Barry (0-2), Seán Kelly (0-6, 5 frees).
Subs: (black-card, Jonathan Fogarty for Michael Fogarty); Philip Rawson for Liam Rochford; Jack Murphy for Mark Furlong.
Referee – Seán Whelan (St. Martin’s).
