In an extremely tight affair in Listowel on Friday evening last, Currow got the better of Emmets to set up a nervous ending to the Division 2 campaign for the home side. With 10 minutes on the clock the away team were 0-03 – 0-01 to the good thanks to a Daniel O’Shea brace and a Kevin Daly point in between Noel Kennelly got Emmets on the board. Just a minute later the sides were level after two points in quick succession from last weekends All-Ireland Junior winners Conor Cox and Jack McGuire.
Both sets of forwards were finding it difficult to create space for scoring opportunities, a trend which continued for the remainder of the game. Currows Luke Fitzgerald and Daniel O’Shea were next to raise white flags but Listowel had their own answer to this through a Noel Kennelly goal after some excellent work from Tom McCarthy and Bryan Sweeney. The first half ended with John Buckley and the aforementioned Sweeney trading points to leave the score at half-time Emmets 1-04 Currow 0-06.
With conditions decreasing after the break it took 10 minutes for the opening score of the half which came from the boot of the ever reliable Noel Kennelly while 6 minutes later Bryan Sweeney stretched Emmets lead out to 3 points as Currow were finding it difficult to penetrate the Listowel backline thanks to some excellent interceptions from Tom Melvin and Brendan Guiney. In fact it wasn’t until the 21st minute that they registered their first score of the half through Pa McCarthy and 3 minutes later the game changed direction as substitute Shane Brosnan found the net to put the away side into a 1 point lead with 6 minutes left to play. Emmets were working hard now for possession and were given an opportunity to level from a placed ball which Kennelly duly dispatched. A minute later the impressive David Sheehy put Listowel back in front from a brilliant individual score but this was to be as good as it got for the hosts as a free from Daniel O’Shea and a 45′ from keeper Shane O’Leary sealed an important victory for Currow who are now fighting for promotion. Things are slightly different for Emmets however as they are hoping to do enough to keep them in Division 2 for another year with just 1 game left to play.
Emmets: Keith Hughes, Tom Melvin, Brendan Guiney, Daragh Broderick, Maurice Whelan (Capt), Jack McGuire 0-01, Shane Quinn, Tom McCarthy, Darragh Leahy, Rob Smith, Cormac Mulvihill, Sean Gilbert, Bryan Sweeney 0-02, Noel Kennelly 1-03, Conor Cox 0-01
Subs used: David Sheehy 0-01, Cathal Keane, Sam Tarrant