St Anne’s early burst does the damage

ST ANNE’s pipped Ballinteer St John’s with some clinical finishing in their Dublin SFC second
round fixture in front of a sizeable O’Toole Park crowd.
Anne’s started well against the wind, rushing into a 1-3 to 0-1 lead before Ballinteer were able to get to grips with their fast, hand-passing forward line.
The powerful wind forced Anne’s to play through hands and run at the Ballinteer defence. It proved effective, with a fine early move topped by a bold finish by Scott Fulham.
From the moment Anne’s gained that five point lead, though, Ballinteer were on top but were undone by a solid Anne’s defence and their own inaccuracy.
Goalkeeper David Wright made a series of exceptional stops, yet Ballinteer were closing the gap. Brendan Colleran and Glenn Whelan found space and knocked over the points that saw the game back on a knife-edge.
Come half time, the lead was reduced to two points at 1-5 to 0-6, and you’d have backed Ballinteer
to reel them in. A tighter second half saw a series of tough tackles, leading to two Anne’s black cards and one for Ballinteer.
The themes of the end of the second half continued: Anne’s struggled to get on the ball for any
period; Ballinteer were ineffective in taking advantage. Still, the orange-clad St John’s edged back a point at a time, with Ferghal Duffy making key inroads in midfield. Things looked ominous for Anne’s when Ballinteer did enough to level the game up at 1-8 to 0-11 with seconds of normal time left on the
clock.
Anne’s were taking their chances and burst forward to clock a critical point through Conor
Leigh as injury time neared. A last gasp wide from St John’s, though, that saw the Anne’s players leaping around in celebration.
It ensured Anne’s progressed for the first time in 16 years to the quarter finals as Ballinteer learnt possession is only nine tenths of the law.