Robert Emmets enter County U21 football semi-final

MORE than six months after landing a divisional title, Robert Emmets return to action in a County U-21 C Football Championship semi final on a meeting against Whitechurch at Mourneabbey on Saturday.

The Newmarket and Lismire combination required a replay to get the measure of Dromtariffe in the Duhallow decider. From the stalemate encounter, Ryan O’Keeffe anwered the call with a sweetly struck late pointed free to earn a hard earned stalemate outcome.

Granted that late reprieve, Emmets made no mistake to take full advantage of the opportunities presented to better Dromtariffe in an exciting replay. From an early juncture, Emmets were more diligent in their approach and the improvement sought from a week earlier was definitely forthcoming in exploiting goal scoring opportunities.

In fairness, Dromtariffe didn’t go down without a fight, producing a terrific comeback to whittle the deficit down to a single point inside the closing 10 minutes. However another scoring burst from Emmets put a generous bit of polish on the scoreboard but all told on this occasion, the winners looked the better team, showing more composure in their play and crucially goal scoring options.

Emmets bossed the key battles, Cathal Browne, Cian Crowley, Aidan Browne and O’Keeffe to the fore in the vital departments. And in attack, Emmets flourished for O’Keeffe, Padraig O’Sullivan, Jack Murphy and Cathal Browne net.

Whitechurch will be an unknown quantity, any side coming out of the city will be respected. Still this Emmets combination that possess quite a number of players operating on the Newmarket Premier Intermediate panel may just have enough in the tank to reach a county final.