Junior Premier Championship – Group 4 Rnd 1
Emmets 1-07 V Na Gaeil 2-19
Last Saturday evening Emmets seniors opened up their Junior Premier Championship with a disappointing display against a strong Na Gaeil outfit.
Listowel opened the scoring after just one minute with a point from Cormac Mulvihill who skipped passed his marker with ease to fire over a good score. Na Gaeil then hit back with a score from Darragh Carmody. Four minutes into the game Diarmuid O’Connor soloed his way through an open Emmets defence and placed the ball past a helpless Cathal Keane as the Tralee side settled into their stride and began to dominate posession.
Jamie Lowham and Carmody stretched Na Gaeils lead further with two well taken scores before Kerry midfielder Jack Barry fielded well and burst through the Emmets defence to rifle the ball into the roof of the net. Listowel hit back with points from Sam Tarrant and Conor Cox respectively. Just before half time Cox tried a long kick into the square and a blunder from Timmy Culloty saw the ball bounce into the back of the net to the delight of the Listowel supporters in attendance to leave five points between the teams at the break. In the second half Na Gael took control of the game scoring seven points on the trot as Listowel had no response to their hard running game with Dara Devine, Eoghan Sheehy and Colm Lyons all contributing to the scoreboard. To their credit Emmets tried hard until the end and made some changes to try and kick-start a comeback but it was to no avail as the Tralee side were home and dry with a bit to spare. Emmets will be very disappointed that they did not fair better and now face an uphill battle to get out of the group and start with a tough away trip to Ballymac in round 2 next Saturday evening. Best for Listowel were David Keane, Jamie Barry and Niall Collins.
Emmets: C Keane, D Leahy, J Barry, D Broderick, T McCarthy, E Browne, S Gilbert, JJ Grimes, C Cox 1-03, N Kennelly, S Tarrant 0-02, G McCarthy, D Keane, C Mulvihill 0-01, B Sweeney 0-01
Subs used: N Collins, J Hartnett, C Pierse, E O’Brien, S Neill