Kevin Curran fends off Christopher O’Brien
MANOR HOUSE HOTEL SFL ONE
Lisnaskea 0-12
Devenish 1-10
Last season’s league finalists Lisnaskea have made a sluggish start to the new campaign with just a single point collected from their two outings so far.
In this their first home fixture of the year they went down to visiting Devenish in what was a very close tussle all the way through, with the Blues squeezing out the win with the final point of the contest.
And Lisnaskea were also to finish the game with fourteen players, Daniel Kille dispatched some ten minutes into the second half on a red card. Immediately on his departure the Emmets appeared to be spurred to increased effort and they put in a brief scoring spurt to pull level. But the loss of Kille then kicked in and Devenish were to just the run in to the final whistle.
Nothing to separate the two well matched teams over the opening thirty minutes with points traded on a steady basis neither side able to exert any particular spell of dominance
Daniel Kille had hit the first scores for the home side with Chris O’Brien responding in like kind for Devenish and the game settled down into a rhythm of tit for tat scoring.
John O’Flanagan speared over some good scores for Devenish in the middle stages of the half wih while for the Emmetts, Sean Keenan and Adrian Little were to be on the scoreboard.
In the lead up to the break, Brendan Gallager and Chris O’Brien nudged Devenish that shade further in front but it was ‘Skea’s Niall McElroy who landed the final score of a well contested half, Devenish in front by the minimum.
A goal was always going to be a major factor in such a tight contest and the goal which came shortly into the second half fell to Devenish.
Chris O’Brien had steered over a free on the resumption and the livewire forward was then fouled with a penalty awarded. This was fired to the net by Brendan Gallagher hoisting Devenish five points clear but Lisnaskea quickly trimmed this gap down with a point each from Sean Keenan and Daniel Kille.
Then came the red card which appeared to give the home side an extra zip and they bounced their way forward with three points, Mark Little and Niall McElroy on the mark
But Devenish were to make the extra man pay off over the final ten minutes. However it was to be a close run thing before scores from John O’Flanagan and Chris O’ Brien pulled them through, the home side having one very late chance to salvage a draw, Sean Keenan’s free just spiralling wide of the upright.
For the winners, Jason Love put in a strong showing in the middle of the park and John O’Flanagan hoofed over some well taken scores with Chris O’Brien always a threat up front.
For ‘Skea, Sean Keenan turned in a fine display with Stephen Carters and Adrian Little also chipping in with steady contributions.