Daly to the fore as St Joseph’s defeat Emo in Kelly Cup semi-final

St Joseph’s have sealed their place in this year’s Kelly Cup final after a third-quarter rout of Emo saw them record an 11-point victory in Kellyville on Friday evening.

The away side had gotten themselves back into the game after the break but a Daly-led scoring onslaught saw St Joseph’s run out comfortable winners.

St Joseph’s 2-18

Emo 1-10

Emo didn’t take long to get the game’s first score as Paddy Hosey curled over a point with 30 seconds on the clock. Ross Meredith added a second point to the away side’s tally after he pointed a free having been fouled himself. Eoghan O’Flaherty got the reigning champions underway with a score from play.

O’Flaherty was involved for their next score as he put the ball on a plate for Conor Kealy to palm into the net. Gearoid Lynch raised a white flag to give St Joseph’s a 1-2 to 0-1 lead after nine minutes. Ross Meredith replied with two scores for Emo with the second coming after quick thinking from Darren Strong.

The home side pushed themselves a goal ahead with scores from Brian Daly and Kealy, to add to his earlier goal. A well-worked team score from Emo saw Hosey get on the end of it to cut the gap to two. St Joseph’s were using the ball well and raised the next three scores with a superb point from Brian Daly the pick of them as he split the posts from close to the end line. Oisín Hooney and Ian Shanahan opened their accounts for the other two points.

Eoin Butler misplaced a kick-out but made up for it as he made a great save one-on-one from Marty Campion. Emo were very wasteful with the ball kicking multiple wides and misplacing simple passes. Hosey ended the half the same way he started it with a point from play to leave Emo behind 1-7 to 0-6 at the break.

Emo came flying out of the traps in the second period and scored three unanswered points to get to within a point of Joseph’s but that was as close as they’d get as Brian Daly led the St Joseph’s charge in the next 15 minutes.

Daly kicked the game’s only two-pointer before he added three more points, two from frees. Matty Campion and O’Flaherty (two) added to their tallies with Daly stepping up to point a 14-metre free after dissent from one of the Emo players.

Hosey slotted over a free to end a 20-minute period without a score for Emo before they raised a green flag. Meredith’s attempted effort on goal dropped in and around the square where substitute Monty Balfe was quickest to react to fire into the net.

The reigning Kelly Cup champions ended the game with another goal and two more points to cap off a brilliant performance. Daly and Shanahan scored the points with the latter setting up his midfield partner Lynch to rattle the back of the Emo net.

They will face Killeshin or Rosenallis in the Kelly Cup final, who are playing on Monday evening.