Emmets survival bid still on track
GLEN EMMETS 1-10 LANNLEIRE 2-5
GLEN Emmets edged closer to Division 2 survival with a battling play-off victory over Lannleire at Cusack Park on Saturday night.
These sides could barely be separated in last year’s Junior Championship semi-finals, with Emmets prevailing after a replay, but they appeared to be coasting to victory on this occasion, opening a 1-8 to 0-1 lead at the break with Keith Lynch plundering the goal.
However, the second-half saw a complete change in fortunes as Lannleire came storming back and the home side struggled to put the game to bed.
Two early second-half points from Colin Murphy had the away side believing a comeback was possible and the comeback really gathered steam when Bob Murphy’s strike beat Conor Kelly in the Glen Emmets goal to leave five between the sides with fifteen minutes remaining.
Murphy converted two frees to reduce the deficit further and Glen Emmets looked to be in serious trouble when they reduced to fourteen men with ten minutes to play.
Lannleire were now dominant and with six minutes to play the sides were level when Colin Murphy netted his side’s second goal.
Lannleire missed a couple of chances to take the lead and then in a rare second half foray into Lannleire’s half, Glen Emmets earned themselves a free which Ronan Grufferty pointed.
Stephen Healy then put Emmets two points ahead with just a minute remaining.
Lannleire needed a goal to win the match and in the final play, Lannleire substitute Laurence McEntee got free of his marker only to see his shot crash off the Emmets woodwork.
Tommy McEnteggart’s final whistle quickly followed a Lannleire’s second half effort just fell short.
GLEN EMMETS: Conor Kelly, Keith Boylan, Tom Grimes 0-1, Evan English, Jamie Farnan, Stephen Healy 0-1, Niall Hackett, Mark Garvey, Robbie Byrne, Kealan O’Neill, Ronan Grufferty 0-1, James Butler 0-3, Andrew Mooney, Isaac Walsh 0-2, Keith Lynch 1-2. Subs: E. Lynch for Keith Boylan.
LANNLEIRE: Liam Callan; Thomas Doyle, Paul McGeough, Jason Torris; Caoimhin Maher, Brendan McEvoy, Paul Doyle; Paul Callan, Pierce Hawkins; Alan Murphy, Colin Murphy 1-5 (3f), Briain McGuinness; Gary Monaghan, Bob Murphy 1-0, Killian Gregory. Subs: Donal Clare for T Doyle; Laurence McEntee for A Murphy. Tuesday 4th September Drogheda Independent U15 Div 3 Junior 2B Championship Junior 2C Competition U16 B Championship Group 1 Wednesday 5th September U16 A Championship U16 B Championship Group 1 U16 Championship Playoff Friday 7th September Division 1/2 Play-off
Division 2/3 Play-off Drogheda Independent U15 Div 2