Annascaul kept their Kerry Premier Junior Football Championship campaign in great shape after grinding out a second win on the bounce, this time getting the better of a very stubborn Tarbert side that refused to make things easy for them.
Two wins from two is exactly where any team wants to be at this stage of the competition, and Annascaul will be quietly pleased with how they are managing to get results even when games get tight and uncomfortable.
This one was far from a stroll. Tarbert came with a plan and stuck to it, making Annascaul work hard for every score and every yard of possession. There were long stretches where the outcome felt genuinely uncertain, and Tarbert deserve credit for the fight they showed throughout.
But when Annascaul needed someone to step up and take the game by the scruff of the neck, they had the right men for the job.
James Crean was outstanding. He was one of those players who just seems to find the ball at the right moment, carrying it forward with purpose and making things happen when his team needed a spark. In a game that ebbed and flowed, his ability to drive at the Tarbert defence gave Annascaul a consistent threat that was difficult to contain.
Colm Moriarty was equally impressive alongside him. Between the two of them, they gave Annascaul a real engine in the forward lines, the kind of players who lift everyone around them when the going gets tough. On a day when the game could have slipped away, it was their influence that helped keep Annascaul on the right side of the result.
Tarbert will be disappointed to come away with nothing because they showed plenty of quality themselves. They were tenacious throughout, competed hard in the tackle and showed the kind of determination that suggests they are not going to fold easily as the championship progresses. For them, this defeat will sting, but there is enough there to suggest they can bounce back.
For Annascaul though, the mood will be positive heading into the next round. Back to back wins in championship football is never something to take for granted, and doing it while showing they can grind out results against tough opposition is a good sign for how they might handle the pressure games later in the competition.
The Premier Junior grade in Kerry is always competitive, with clubs hungry to push up through the ranks and every game carrying real weight. Annascaul look like a side that understands what it takes to survive and progress in that environment.
With Crean and Moriarty leading the charge, they have the kind of players who can make the difference when the margins are tight. If they can keep building on these performances, they will be a side that others in the grade will not want to face.