Butler serves up lifeline
THEY’VE been flirting with the dreaded drop for a few years, but the tradoor finally gave way under Cooley Kickhams on Sunday morning as Kilkerley Emmets secured their SFC status.
After suffering relegation to Division 2 a few years ago, the former Louth kingpins will be confident they can bounce straight back, but relinquishing a near 60-year spell in senior football won’t do down well on the peninsula.
They were a little unfortunate to meet 2016 finalists St Mary’s in the first round of play-offs, but there was no where to hide on this occasion as a Kilkerley side who had already been relegated to Division 2 in the league recorded a deserved victory.
The writing was on the wall from the opening exchanges as Kilkerley made a whirlwind start.
It was a case of cometh the hour cometh the man for Emmets once more as Shane Lennon fired home an early gaol en-route to a personal tally of 1-9.
With Tadhg McEneaney also in fine form, Kilkerley opened a seven-point lead, 1-4 to no score.
Cooley eventually found some traction and five points with just a Sean hand point by way of reply gave them hope.
But a second, well-worked goal finished by McEneaney saw Kilkerley retire with a three-point cushion 2-6 to 0-9.
The second half was less dramatic as Kilkerley turned the screw in the third quarter, extending their lead to lead to seven points, 2-11 to 0-10.
Cooley did manage to cut the deficit back to four at one stage, but that was good as it got for Peter McDonald’s side. KILKERLEY EMMETS: Darren Meehan; James Bellew, Alan McGeough, Barra McCarthy; Cormac Bellew, Shaun McElroy, Rian Hand; James Fegan, Ciaran Bellew; Conal McEneaney, Sean Hand 0-1, Ciaran Clarke; Daniel McKeown 0-1, Shane Lennon 1-9,Tadhg McEneaney 1-4.Subs: Connor Kirk 0-1 for McKeown, Pearce Hughes for Rian Hand (BC).
COOLEY KICKHAMS: Neil Gallagher; Paddy Hanlon, Conor McGuinness, Gerry Malone; Eoin McDaid 0-1, Alan Page, Shane Marks; Keith White, Richard Brennan 0-2; Michael Rafferty 0-2, Darren Marks, Aoghan McGuinness; Peter Thornton 0-1, Brian White 0-7, Ciarán Sheelan 0-1. Subs: James O Reilly 0-1 for Aoghan McGuinness, Dean McGreehan for Shane Marks, Fearghal Malone for Thornton.
Lannleire Glen Emmets 2-8 0-14
JAMES Butler was the hero for the Glen Emmets as he fired over three late points, including an injury-time equaliser, to send this Junior Championship semi-final with Lannleire to a replay.
In a very entertaining contest despite the wet and windy conditions in Drogheda, Butler kept his nerve to fire over a pressure kick that ensured his side’s hopes of regaining the Christy Bellew Cup are still alive.
It was a bitterly disappointing end for Lannleire who looked on course to cause a major surprise when they led by eight points at the break. However, a combination of the strong breeze, tiring limbs and the patient approach of Glen Emmets saw them denied right at the death.
The Emmets went into the game as strong favourites to make the final and in the opening quarter that tag was justified as they eased into a 0-3 to 0-1 lead despite playing against the elements. Niall Lennon had opened the scoring with a point when he might have gone for goal inside 30 seconds, only for the Emmets to hit back with points from Ronan Grufferty (two frees) and David Bracken.
The Dunleer men had brought a high-intensity approach to the game but in those early stages seemed almost too anxious at times. When they finally settled into a rhythm they began to make inroads and the quick ball into full-forward Bob Murphy was causing a lot of problems.
Murphy should have had a goal on 15 minutes but inexplicably delayed his effort from inside the small square and Fergus Barnett was able to block. However, from the resultant ‘45’ Paul Doyle pointed and with his side dominating around the middle, they added scores from Colin Murphy, Ian Mulroy and Lennon to lead by 0-5 to 0-3 on 21 minutes.
They then took a firm grip of the game with a splendid goal following a quick counter attack after Glen Emmets looked certain to find the net only for a brilliant tackle by Jason Torris to disposses Damien Grimes. The Dunleer men then broke quickly allowing Paul Callan to pick out Brian McGuinness’ brilliant run and he stroked the ball to the back of the net.
Callan followed up with another point and in the 25th minute the blue-and-white supporters were dreaming of a place in the final when Callan added a second goal after being set up by Murphy to make it 2-6 to 0-3.
The shell-shocked Emmets composed themselves in the closing stages of the first half and prevented further damage, with a Grufferty free cutting the gap to eight points at the break.
As expected, the Tullyallen side dominated the second half and with Sean Byrne taking centre-stage they got themselves right back into contention with unanswered points from Byrne (2), Mark Garvey, Butler, Joseph Farrelly and Bracken cutting the gap to 2-7 to 0-10. It might have been even better but Byrne had a 36th minute goal ruled out for a square ball.
Lannleire dug deep at that stage and began to frustrate the Emmets who lost their rhythm somewhat and a point from Alan Murphy stretched the gap to four only for Gufferty to get his side back on track with a well-taken score on 51 minutes.
It looked as if the Dunleer side might hold out for victory but their hopes suffered a setback when Colin Murphy picked up a second yellow five minutes from time. The Emmets, and Butler in particular, took full advangtage by kicking the last three points to send the game to a replay.
LANNLEIRE: John King; Paul McGeough, Paul Doyle (0-1, 45), Jason Torris; Brendan McEvoy, Briain McGuinness (1-0), Garry Monaghan; Andrew Dowd; Paul Callan; Colin Murphy (0-2), Ian Mulroy (0-1), Liam Callan; Niall Lennon (1-3), Bob Murphy, Alan Murphy (0-1). Subs: Conall Maher for L Callan.
GLEN EMMETS: Fergus Barnett; Joseph Farrelly (0-1), Keith Boylan, Evan English; Andrew Mooney, Tom Grimes, Stephen Healy; Mark Garvey (0-1), Ronan Grufferty (0-4, 3f); David Bracken (0-2), Derrick Johnson, James Butler (0-4, 1f); Damien Grimes, Sean Byrne (0-2), Ian Cusack. Subs: Keelan O’Neill for D Johnson, Shane Noone for S Healy, Robert Byrne for M Garvey.
REFEREE: Des McDonnell.