GERRY'S FRESH FRUIT & VEG JFL SEMI FINAL Currin 0-13 Emyvale 0-11 There will be no Monaghan junior double for Emyvale this year after they fell victim to a hungrier and more purposeful Currin in this hugely entertaining and very evenly contested Dr. Ward Cup semi-final in Emyvale on Saturday evening last. This was a game that was fairly finely balanced all through yet Currin always had the capacity to impose themselves that much more meaningfully and this they did at key times. With Dick Clerkin bossing matters in midfield Currin always had the upper hand with a good supply going in to their inside men Jack McCarron and Gerald O'Callaghan in particular and they proved a real handful for an at times overworked Emyvale defence. Over the course of this game Currin posed a few questions for Emyvale that they will have to answer before this Sunday's Ulster junior football club championship final if they are to succeed at that level. Conditions were not ideal with the going good to soft and an increasingly biting wind but it was Currin's handling and first touch that was superior all through while Emyvale squandered possession too easily at times particularly through handling errors coming out of defence. It took Currin some time to settle with 12 minutes having elapsed before they opened the scoring and by that stage Emyvale could have been further in front than the one point margin they enjoyed but thereafter it was a cracking contest as fortunes ebbed and flowed. Robbie McHugh opened for Emyvale after eight minutes with Currin equalising with a point from a free by Jack McCarron four minutes later. A minute later still Currin took the lead for the first time with a point by Stephen Smith, Emyvale then equalising within a minute to leave the sides all square at the end of the opening quarter. Emyvale were now putting some good moves together one of which saw Robbie McHugh placed clear but his rasp came back off the Currin crossbar, one of a number of times that the woodwork denied Emyvale. Minutes later Jack McCarron took a good save out of Emyvale keeper Stephen McAree and both sides squandered chances at either end before Emyvale retook the lead with a point by Daniel McMahon in the 20th minute. Currin had now settled that much more than in the opening quarter and they went on to dominate the final 10 minutes although they had to play catch up in the 24th and in the 26th minutes, Jack McCarron converting a free to cancel out an excellent point by Brendan McKenna and Dick Clerkin then coming on a scorching run from midfield to cancel out a point by Robbie McHugh to leave the sides deadlocked at 0-5 each with four minutes of normal time remaining. By the half-hour mark though Currin had opened a three points lead, punishing Emyvale's hesitancy in possession on two occasions for points by Stephen Smith and Gerard O'Callaghan, the latter a real threat every time he got on the ball. Jack McCarron converting a free for a foul on Dick Clerkin on the half-hour with Martin McAree pulling one back for Emyvale, also from a free following a foul on Daniel McMahon two minutes into stoppage time to leave the half-time score Currin 0-8, Emyvale 0-6. Within three minutes of the resumption Currin had extended their lead to four points with a brace from Jack McCarron, one from a free but by the ninth minute Emyvale had the margin back to two as Martin McAree converted a free in the sixth minute, his task made all the easier following dissent in the Currin defence, and another point from Brendan McKenna to leave two between the sides and set the tone for most of the second-half. By the end of the third quarter though Currin had again forged ahead and a strong period between the 10th and 13th minutes they hit three points without reply to go five in front, Gerald O'Callaghan with an excellent strike in the 10th minute following good work by Jack McCarron and Stephen Smith and then Jack McCarron adding a brace, one from a free and the second an excellent finish under pressure when the ball broke from a high centre by Ben Clerkin. JT Treanor pulled back a point for Emyvale in the 14th minute with both sides then going through an indifferent period with chances going amiss at both ends before Daniel McMahon reduced the deficit to three with nine minutes of normal time remaining. That margin was almost increased to six a couple of minutes later when Jack McCarron placed all Eoin Morrow through on goal with pinpoint accuracy but Stephen McAree was off his line to deny the Currin man. Emyvale upped the tempo again and pulled back another point in the 27th minute to leave two between the sides with the game building to a very nervous conclusion. An effort from distance by Jack McCarron two minutes from time was just off target and Emyvale did have a late chance to snatch it when they were awarded to close in frees with Martin McAree on both occasions going for goal only to be denied by the woodwork as Currin held out for what was overall a deserved victory. Teams and Scorers: Currin: Waylon McEniff, Enda McCaffrey, Conor McCaffrey, Sean Brady, Stephen Beattie, Francis O'Callaghan, Declan Smyth, Dick Clerkin 0-1, Eoin Morrow, Philip O'Callaghan, Ben Clerkin, Gerard O'Callaghan 0-3, Stephen Smith 0-2, Paul Rudden, Jack McCarron 0-7 (5f). Emyvale: Stephen McAree, Ciaran Connolly, Sean McMeel, John Flannery, Brendan Askin, Seamus Downey, Jonathan Morrough, Brendan McKenna 0-2, Patrick J McKenna, JT Treanor 0-1, Martin McAree 0-2 (2f), Brendan O'Brien, Daniel McMahon 0-2 (1f), Gavin McKernan, Robbie McHugh 0-3. Subs: Gareth McQuaid for G McKernan, Patrick McCarron for JT Treanor, Gregory Devlin for J Morrough. Referee: Brian Finnegan (Donaghmoyne). Tweet

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