2nd April 2006 - Credit Union County Senior Football League Division 1 Round 2 in Con Keating Park

St. Mary's 0-12 V 1-09 Listowel Emmets

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The points were shared in Con Keating Park on Sunday afternoon last when the men from Listowel came up against the home side St. Mary’s in a fantastic contest played in fabulous conditions. After the North Kerry men took an early advantage a Bryan Sheehan inspired St. Mary’s side came back into the game and went in at the break ahead by 5 points. Listowel got themselves back into the game after a minute of the second half when Aonghus Fitzgerald buried the ball to the back of the net, but St. Mary’s battled on and held the advantage thanks to Bryan Sheehan’s 9 points from St. Mary’s tally of 12, until deep into injury time when Brendan Kelly pointed into the town goal from the stand side to level the game. Nevertheless a draw was a fair result with both teams contributing to a brilliant compelling game of football.

Listowel were first off the mark when Derek Galvin and Paudie Buckley both produced points without reply for Emmets, these were to be the only points that their side were to mark on the scoreboard during the first half while St. Mary’s were finally getting into the thick of the action. Bryan Sheehan found his shooting range and with this he controlled the game from his boot, adding 6 points in a row, coming from a 30m free, 45m free, 45m sideline kick, long range and short range from play anything the man touched seemed to go straight and trough over the bar, while Emmets could only muster up a goal chance from Brian Scanlon which was cleared off the line by Cormac O’Shea. With the first half coming to an end St. Mary’s found time to add another point with the wind, before the break when Sheehan broke Declan McCarthy’s kick out, Austin Constable pick up the loose ball and pointed from long range to leave the half time score St. Mary’s 0-7 Listowel Emmets 0-2.

Emmets were out of the blocks the quickest in the second half when a combinations between Mikey Kennelly and Derek Galvin found Aonghus Fitzgerald unmarked in front of goal and he buried the ball past a helpless Cormac O’Shea. Brian Scanlon added a point for the visitors to cut the margin to the minimum, but then after 7 minutes of play in the second half, a team effort which included 9 St. Mary’s players ended up with a Bryan Sheehan point from long range, this was a play worthy of the entry fee alone as St. Mary’s moved the ball quickly and smartly and deserved everything they got. Derek Galvin cancelled Sheehan’s point out with a close point a minute later, but then, after 42 minutes came a controversial matter when it had looked like St. Mary’s Declan O’Sullivan had scrambled the ball cross the goal line, but referee Michael Lyne had judged the ball to have crossed the end line beforehand much to the dismay of the home supporters. Niall O’Driscoll had a chance to make up for this soon afterwards when he left numerous players in his trail and came one on one with Declan McCarthy in the Emmets goal but McCarthy pulled off an excellent save to keep his side in the game. McCarthy’s save spurred on his side and they added three more points to their tally from Brendan Kelly 2 frees and Brian Scanlon to take the lead by two points. Bryan Sheehan added yet another piece of magic when he pointed a 55m free, Sheehan was on the mark again 3 minutes later when good Aidan O’Sullivan work set Sheehan up in front of goal and he didn’t disappoint. With time running out both sides tried in vain to take the spoils when Listowel’s Brian Scanlon and St. Mary’s Daniel O’Sullivan and Niall O’Driscoll added points to give the Mary’s a single point lead. Listowel then produced one last attack and with this a great point from Brendan Kelly from the left wing to leave the final score in Con Keating Park St. Mary’s 0-12 Listowel Emmets 1-09.

Best for the home side on the day were Cormac O’Shea, Paudie O’Shea, Aidan O’Sullivan, Man Of The Match Bryan Sheehan, Niall O’Driscoll, Daniel O’Sullivan and Adam Quirke while Listowel were best served by goalkeeper Declan McCarthy, Liam Keane, Fergus Reen, Brendan Kelly, Brian Scanlon and Derek Galvin. With a point for both sides, this will benefit Listowel that bit more added to their two points from the Stacks game they have a good start to the County League got now, while St. Mary’s would have been over the moon to take the 2 points to try and secure their division 1 status, but this is still a great start. St. Mary’s will prepare for Gneeveguilla next on Saturday April 15th while Emmets look forward to Desmonds away who were defeated by Gneeveguilla this weekend. Finally for the stats people, this was the only the second time since October 16th 2004 that St. Mary’s scored more than 10 points in a match, the other coming in the final round of the County League v Dingle in Con Keating Park.

St. Mary’s – C O’Shea, P O’Shea, JM Clifford, B Curran, MT O’Connor, A O’Sullivan, L Sheehan, B Sheehan (0-9,5f), N O’Driscoll (0-1),  D O’Sullivan (0-1), R Keane, A Quirke, A Constable (0-1), J Fitzgerald, D O’Sullivan (P O’Donoghue).
Listowel Emmets – D McCarthy, A Toomey, L Keane, F Reen, S Quinn, R Harrington, G McCarthy, P Buckley, N Kennelly (0-1,1f), B Doyle, Brendan Kelly (0-4,3f), A Fitzgerald, B Scanlon (0-2), M Kennelly (S McCarthy), D Galvin (0-2).
Referee: Ml Lyne (Valentia Young Islanders)

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