Kilkerley a step closer to making swift return
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KILKERLEY Emmets are one step away from making a swift return to Senior football after they took care of their neighbours St. Brides on a muggy afternoon in Haggardstown.
Emmets have trotted this path before, winning the competition in 2015, spending one solitary season in Intermediate before bouncing back up straight away.
Having been relegated last year they look to exit the second tier in a hurry again with that recent high level of football standing to them as they made lighter of the dreadful conditions to advance to the final.
With scores at a premium, Kilkerley could happily rely once again on their talisman Shane Lennon and his protege Tadhg McEnaney to pull them through. They combined brilliantly together in the defining third quarter to give them an insurmountable five point lead.
The Knockbridge men could only wish to have that scoring luxury, as they couldn’t get going as a forward unit all afternoon. Yet, ironically, they could have levelled the game at the death, when Bernard Laverty flicked a high ball only to be denied by the crossbar.
A goal at that stage would have been a grave injustice to Paul Sharkey’s side, who, over the course of the match played much more cohesively and clinically.
The sides were level four times in the first half. Shane Lennon struck the bottom of the post with low shot before the game settled into the tense affair where familiarity made it hard for either side to get too far ahead of themselves.
Brides took an early 2-1 lead through a Marry free kick but that would be the only time they would be ahead with excellent minor Micheál Begley levelling straightaway for Kilkerley.
Wing forward Marry was Declan McCoy’s go to man all season and Neil Mulholland must be credited for keeping him quiet. The full back switched out to left half right from the throw in to solely stop Marry from playing and it worked a treat and went along way in his side victory.
McEnaney landed three points in the first half while Marry added to more free’s to make it 4-4 at the turn. Both Marry and Kirk crucially missed free’s before the half time whistle that was a knock to their confidence and Kilkerley punished them upon the resumption.
It wasn’t until the 48th minute that substitute Aaron Hoey would find the range again for the Knockbridge side.
The damage was done in the intervening minutes of the half with McEnaney and Lennon landing a brace a piece topped up by Begley.
Marry did finally get some space to cut the gap to two with a classy point, but Lennon showed all his craft to guide his side back to the summit with a pair of relieving dead balls.
The first, a monstrous 45’ was exceptional given the slippery underfoot conditions.
Brides wingback Laverty did make Kilkerleys hearts stop for a millisecond, however they survive and advance to an October 6th final against Mattock Rangers. KILKERLEY EMMETS: Ultan McElroy; Ciaran Clarke, Cormac Bellew, Fintan Brady; Sean Hand, Cathal Bellew, Neil Mulholland; Rian Hand, Conor Quigley; Ciaran McGlynn, Tadhg McEnaney 0-5 (1f), Shaun McElroy; Daniel McKeown, Shane Lennon 0-4 (2f, 145’), Michael Begley 0-2. Subs: Andy McGuill for Quigley (45), Kieran Murtagh for McGlynn (53), Ciaran Bellew for Begley black (55), Killian Kampes for S Hand (64).
ST. BRIDES: Adam Plunkett; Mark Hoey 0-1, David Kettle, Ronan Bailey; Aaron Devin, Michael Keane, Bernard Laverty; Patrick Reilly, James Costello; Sean Marry 0-5 (4f), Andrew Smyth, Neil Thornton; Laurence Steen, Emmett Kirk 0-1, Kevin Hearty. Subs: Sean Brennan for Thornton (37), Ciaran Deane for Kirk (39), Aaron Hoey 0-1 for Hearty (45), Conor Deane for Devin (54).
REFEREE: Stephen Johnson.