Co. Senior League Div 2 – Round 6
Listowel Emmets 1-08 Castleisland Desmonds 0-14

Last Saturday evening Emmets seniors took on table toppers Castleisland Desmonds in Round 6 of the County League in Frank Sheehy Park on a fine evening for football. Desmonds were coming into this with a perfect record so they were certainly looking for the two points here which would put them in a great position in their quest for promotion back to Division 1. Niall Collins opened the scoring for Emmets with a great solo run and put the ball over off his left but it didn’t take long for Desmonds to hit back with two fast points of their own.

Noel Kennelly hit Listowel’s second point with a free just inside the 45 but that was it for the home side as Castleisland dominated the remainder of the half scoring the next seven points without reply with Thomas Hickey responsible for five of these, four coming from placed balls. The visitors went in at half-time leading 0-11 to 0-02 with the ball firmly in Desmonds court.

Emmets started the second half the strongest with points from David Keane, Maurice Whelan and the classy David Sheehy who was immense throughout. They enjoyed a great spell of possession and played some brilliant football before corner forward David Keane buried the ball to the back of the net to turn this into a contest. This goal boosted Listowel greatly and they were much the better team for most of the second period with captain Cormac Mulvihill, Rob Smith and Joe Joe Grimes all playing a hand. Desmonds were still dangerous on the break however and Shane Quinn pulled off a great save which could have been curtains and kept Emmets in with a shout. David Sheehy fired over an inspirational score from 35 yards which would unfortunately prove to be Listowels last score of the game with five minutes to go. Castleisland held on to the ball and were difficult to break down as the home side went in search of a goal to level up proceedings but referee John Dineen blew the final whistle with Desmonds maintaining their 100% record, running out winners on a scoreline of 1-8 to 0-14.
Overall Emmets wont be too disappointed with their performance and grew in confidence as the game progressed and to be fair the game could have went either way at the end if they got the rub of the green. Other positives to note were the performances of the younger players such as Sheldon Neill and Cian McCarthy who was starting his first game for the seniors.

Emmets: S Quinn, G Tarrant, D Leahy, C McCarthy, M Whelan, C Mulvihill, B O’Flynn (R Hanley) J J Grimes, N Collins, R Smith, D Sheehy, D Keane, S Neill, N Kennelly, D Hughes (J Hartnett)

Report by David Noonan