Students failed their summer test

By BILLY COSS Annaghdown .0-14 NUI Galway .0-9   ANNAGHDOWN may have experienced some lean years since their last Galway SFC success in 2001 but the five-time champions still held far too much in reserve for a depleted NUI Galway side in the opening round of this year's campaign. Originally scheduled for Corofin on Sunday, this game was moved to Tuam Stadium on Monday evening due to a bereavement and while the extra day helped NUIG's prospects in terms of player availability, they never got close enough to ask serious questions of an Annaghdown team that laid most of the groundwork for their win during the opening half.[private] At full strength, there is little doubt that NUIG possess the raw material to make an impression in the Championship but early-round fixtures are always a stern test of their squad depth and they understandably lacked the level of collective training and preparation of the winners. Due to their players' inter-county and home Club Championship commitments as well as the lure of a summer travelling abroad, their selection was severely under-strength. Only eight of the squad that featured in their Sigerson Cup quarter-final exit to Jordanstown last February â€â€ and crucially none of their frontline, marquee names â€â€ were available to their management team of Nigel Concannon, Brian Grant and Michael O'Connor.   Galway panelists Joss Moore, Gary Sweeney and Greg Higgins all line out with Senior clubs and were therefore ineligible while Mayo's Jason Doherty, Tipperary's Ciarán McDonald as well as Sligo's Stephen Gilmartin were among the more notable absentees. To compound matters, their large Mayo contingent were involved in the opening round of Club Championship fixtures over the weekend and had very little recovery time before making the trip south for the fixture on Monday.  There were many star performers in the changed white strip of Annaghdown but none shone brighter than corner-forward Frankie Burke who finished with nine points, eight from frees. NUIG could never quite get to grips with his threat in opening play and apart from a couple of misses, his free-taking was generally on the money. Burke's four first half frees along with excellent scores from play from Brendan Dooley, Christopher Greaney and Diarmuid Newell as well as an Anthony Pender 45 saw Annaghdown open up a deserved 0-8 to 0-2 interval advantage. All NUIG had to show for their efforts were a couple of points from Brian Geraghty, their most effective player, and while they grew in stature as the match progressed and managed to eat into Annaghdown's lead, they were left with too steep a mountain to climb by a lack-lustre opening half. On the few occasions they broke inside the Annaghdown defensive cover, players opted to take their point rather than drive on and shoot for goal and even though they got back to within two points, they never looked like overhauling the deficit on points alone. With Niall Coleman putting in a solid display at midfield, including a couple of incisive runs that resulted in converted frees, and Frankie Burke bringing his personal tally to nine points late on, the Corribsiders ran out relatively comfortable winners. They advance to the last 16 whereas NUIG, in one of the quirks of the Galway SFC format, are exempt from the threat of relegation but denied a second chance through the qualifiers.  Annaghdown: P. O'Neill; M. O'Neill, S. Collier, B. Newell; B. Qualter, A. Pender (0-1, 45), J. Creaven; C. Duggan, N. Coleman; N. Farragher, E. Mullarkey (0-1), B. Dooley (captain, 0-1); C. Greaney (0-1), D. Newell (0-1), F. Burke (0-9, eight frees). Subs: A. Burke for Greaney inj., 20 mins; C. Coen for Qualter, half-time.  NUI Galway: D. O'Sullivan (Limerick); D. Newcombe (Mayo), C. Crowe (Mayo), R, Rochford (Mayo); S. McWeeney (Leitrim), K. Conroy (Mayo, 0-1), D. Gavigan (Donegal); C. Burns (Sligo), S. Guing (Offaly); K. Conlan (Leitrim), B. Geraghty (Offaly, 0-2), D. Hogan (Offaly, 0-1); C. Freeman (Mayo, 0-1), R. McGoldrick (Longford, 0-1, free), I. Galvin (Kerry, 0-2, frees). Subs: C. Walsh (Mayo, 0-1) for McWeeney, 25 mins; R. Kiely (Tipperary) for Crowe, half-time; B. Cushden (Offaly) for Burns, half-time; E. Ó hEochaidh (An Spideál) for McGoldrick, 39 mins. Referee: Frank Kinneen.  Herald Sport Man of the Match: Frankie Burke (Annaghdown).[/private]