Annaderg recorded their second victory of the season away to St Michael’s of Magheralin on Sunday.
A strong team performance saw them run out winners on a big scoreline of 6-9 to St Michael’s 1-7.
It was clear from the start that Annaderg, an amalgamation of Annaclone and Aghaderg, were going to dominate.
For most of the first period the play was concentrated in the St Michael’s half as Annaderg laid siege to the goals.
A strong centre-field pairing of Declan Loy and Michael Jordan won most of the possession from a series of St Michael’s kickouts and an accurate supply of ball to the busy forward line inside meant a succession of early scores.
Consistent pressure by the likes of Conor McPoilin, Stephen McKey and Jordan Greenan paid off after just a couple of minutes. Connor McPolin was unlucky to hit the crossbar from around 10 metres, but Feidhlim Macauley was on hand to palm the ball into the St Michael’s net for the opening goal.
In attack, Dominic Doyle was excellent again and his strong and direct running caused serious problems for the Magheralin defence.
His namesake and team-mate Dominic Doyle in defence also had a strong game, cutting out a succession of St Michael attacks. His interceptions and accurate long range passing was a key element of a high-scoring first half.
The Annaderg defence was relatively quiet, but ably anchored by Joseph Higgins and Louis Murray, soaked up any pressure that came its way. Kalam Farrell in goals dealt comfortably with any high balls and his accurate long range kick outs kept Annaderg pushing forward.
The second half was a much more competitive affair, after a number of key substitutions evened up the teams.
St Michael’s began to penetrate much more and the play was more evenly spread. In fact, the Magheralin boys knocked over some excellent scores after good approach work, and the Annaderg defence was under consistent pressure. Harry McArdle and Colin McGrath worked hard during this period to limit St Michael’s scoring potential, and James Teague won a lot of breaking ball and helped to set up several counter attacks.
Substitutes Michael McKey, Rauri Heenan and Bernard and Cormac Clarke all contributed strongly on their introduction and the full panel got a game.
Best in attack for Annaderg were Dominic Doyle who scored 2-3; Connor McPolin who worked tirelessly and contributed 2-1 and Stephen McKey who scored 1-1
In defence the team was well served by Louis Murray; Joseph Higgins and Harry McArdle.
Two wins from two games is a healthy springboard for this team. Next week’s game against Glassdrumman should give an accurate measure of where they stand in the division’s rankings.
