Spa 2-15, Templenoe 1-07.
Templenoe made the trip to Spa for their final County league match in 2019, but the East Kerry outfit proved far superior on the day, in a lacklustre game. That said Templenoe were once again missing a number of regulars aside from the Kerry quartet, which meant it was always likely to be an uphill task.
Templenoe had a solid opening to this contest, matching their opponents point for point in the first 10 minutes to make the score 0-03 to 0-03. Spa’s scores came courtesy of Michael Foley and Michael O’Donoghue (2), while Brian Crowley and Pat Spillane (2) were on target for the visitors. Spa then started to take control, with the next three points on the trot coming from Evan Cronin, David Spillane and Niall McCarthy, before they were awarded a penalty for an apparent leg block. Evan Cronin stepped up to take the spot kick, but his effort was well saved by Templenoe keeper Colm Breen. Brian Crowley then added another point, to give the away side a bit of respite and Denis O’Neill almost followed this up with a goal, only to be denied by Spa goalie James Devane. The respite was brief however and Spa were relentless in attack in the closing minutes of the first half, in a spell that saw them bag two goals and a point without reply, with Niall McCarthy and Ciaran Spillane finding the net.
Half Time Score: Spa 2-08, Templenoe 0-04.
Spa consolidated their position with three more points from David Spillane and Michael O’Donoghue (2) early in the second half as they continued to dominate matters around the middle of the field. Templenoe were finding Spa hard to break down and some of their moves were disjointed, as they coughed up possession time and time again. The visitors had to wait until the 42nd minute before they eventually tagged on their next score through Pat Spillane. Both sides (particularly Spa) wasted many scoring chances throughout the game. Nevertheless, Spa did push on to extend their lead to 2-14 to 0-6 by the 55th minute, as they started to empty their bench and two of their subs Calum Neher and Paul Cahill were among those to find the range. Templenoe did rally a bit towards the end and were rewarded with a goal and a point from Kieran McCarthy and Brian Crowley, before the referee blew the full time whistle.
After four consecutive years in top flight, Templenoe will now drop down to Division 2 for next year’s County league. Although, this year’s campaign was difficult, it was still a great achievement for a club Templenoe’s size to spend four years in a row in Division 1, so well done to all involved and to all those who kept the show going when numbers were tight.
Final Score: Spa 2-15, Templenoe 1-07.
Scorers:
Spa: Michael O’Donoghue 0-6 (0-4f), Niall McCarthy 1-01, Ciaran Spillane 1-00, David Spillane 0-02, Michael McCarthy 0-02, Michael Foley 0-01, Evan Cronin 0-01, Calum Neher 0-01, Paul Cahill 0-01.
Templenoe: Brian Crowley 0-04 (0-01f), Pat Spillane 0-03, Kieran McCarthy 1-00.
Teams:
Spa: James Devane, Brian Devane, Brian Lynch, Eoghan Cronin, Ciaran Spillane, Eoin Fitzgerald, Dan O’Donoghue, Shane Cronin, Michael McCarthy, Ryan O’Carroll, Michael Foley, Niall McCarthy, David Spillane, Michael O’Donoghue, Evan Cronin.
Subs: Gary Vaughan, Shane Fenton, Eric O’Donoghue, Mikey Moynihan, Paul Cahill, Calum Neher.
Templenoe: Colm Breen, Mike Hallissey, Kieran O’Neill, Dan O’Connor, Patrick Clifford, Joseph Sheehan, Kieran McCarthy, Sean Sheehan, Tom Spillane, Denis O’Neill, Brian Crowley, John Rice, Stephen O’Sullivan, Josh Crowley Holland, John Moriarty
Subs: Cathal Granville.
