Emmets cruise to last eight
AFTER surviving a minor scare from Stabannon Parnells in the opening round, Glen Emmets cruised into the quarter-finals with a routine 29-point victory over Cuchulainn Gaels on Thursday night.
It was one way traffic from start to finish, but just what Emmets can take from such a facile victory remains to be seen, as they await the draw for the last eight.
It’s unlikely they’ll have things as easy as this again this summer as they rattled off 1-3 in the opening five minutes to dash any hopes of a Gaels surprise.
James Butler and Sean Byrne shared that opening salvo between them, with the latter netting the first of two goals on the night in the fifth minute.
Cian McDonald kicked one of the scores of the game to get Cuchulainn Gaels off the mark, but they didn’t manage another for 15 minutes and Emmets showed their ruthless streak by hitting straight back with a Damien Grimes goal.
That second goal sent the floodgates crashing open and the Tullyallen men added seven points without reply to lead by 2-11 to 0-1.
Gaels stopped the rot with points from Brian Elmore and Jody Keenan, but a Butler goal at the opposite end saw Emmets retire with an emphatic 3-14 to 0-3 advantage.
They let up ever so slightly in the second period, but only after Byrne had fired home his second and his team’s fourth major of the night.
Cuchulainn Gaels managed to better their first-half tally by one with Cian and Eoin McDonald, Elmore and Keenan all on target, but again they went through long spells without a score as Emmets kept the scoreboard operator busy at the other end.
After slipping up in the group stages to emerge as runners-up last term, it’s mission number one accomplished for Kevin Barry’s men, who must wait to see what the new open draw throws up after next weekend’s final round of games.
Gaels can still join them in the last eight, but the odds will again be staked against the Omeath men as they take on a Stabannon Parenlls side that ran Emmets to four points in round one.
GLEN EMMETS: Conor Kelly; Joe Farrelly, Keith Boylan, Niall Hackett; Evan English, Stephen Healy, Ronan Carr; Ronan Grufferty 0-4, Mark Garvey 0-1; David Bracken 0-3, Derrick Johnston 0-2; James Butler 1-5, Sean Byrne 2-3, Damien Grimes 1-2. Subs: A Monoman for Healy, D Whyte for Hackett, J Farnan 0-3 for Garvey, B Hilliard for Bracken, S Owens 0-1 for Byrne, C Byrne for Grufferty.
CUCHLAINN GAELS: Brendan O’Hagan; Peter Morgan, JP Elmore, Brendan McKeown; Jordan Loye, John Morgan, Kieren McAteer; Francis O’Hagan, Rammie Phillips; Cian McDonald 0-2 (1f), John O’Hagan, Eoin McDonald 0-1f; Michael McCabe, Brian Elmore 0-2, Jody Keenan 0-2. Subs: Paul O’Hanlon, Callum Fearon, Chris Connolly, Seamus McCabe, Peter McCabe.