AIB Munster Club Intermediate Football Championship Final.
Templenoe 0-14, St Breckans (Clare) 0-05.
Templenoe brought down the curtain on what has been a glorious decade for the Club with a hard earned nine points victory over St Breckans in the Munster Club Intermediate football final at Mallow last Sunday. It was another historic day for the Club who have embarked on an extraordinary journey since 2010. Templenoe have gone from winning the Novice Shield that year, to capturing the Novice Championship in 2013, before adding the County, Munster and All Ireland Junior club Championship titles in 2015/16 to the club’s roll of honour. Then last May the long sought after County Intermediate Championship was finally won and last Sunday Templenoe were crowned Munster Club Intermediate football champions.
Templenoe did not quite repeat the five star display they produced against Éire Óg in the Munster Semi Final, but they used their experience well and showed good patience and composure as the game went on to overcome a dogged St Breckans side. The game was played in ideal conditions for the time of year and both teams brought plenty of support. Templenoe opened the scoring with midfielder Sean Sheehan popping the ball over the bar after he was played through by Teddy Doyle. But from early on it was clear Templenoe would not have everything their own way against a very organised St Breckans, who were getting lots of bodies back and making life difficult for the opponents attack. Padraig Kelly levelled the scores for St Breckans with a placed ball effort, before Stephen Tierney put the Clare side ahead for the first and only time in the game. Soon after the Banner Countymen were dealt a blow, when they lost their wing forward Maccon Bryne to a black card. Templenoe though were struggling for scores during this spell, which was not helped by them kicking 5 wides in the first half. It would take until the 19th minute before Templenoe would eventually register their second score of the match courtesy of Killian Spillane, following a good team move which started all the way back from goalkeeper Danny Cahalane. This made the score 2 points apiece. Then two points on the trot from Stephen O’Sullivan, one from a free and one from open play, helped steady the ship for the Kerry side after a turbulent opening 20 minutes. Shortly before the break, Brian Crowley somehow managed to swing the ball over the bar to extend Templenoe’s lead to three points, despite been put under strong pressure from the Breckans defence. The side representing Lisdoonvarna and Doolin had the final say in the half with centre forward Padraig Kelly nailing a 45 to reduce the deficit back to two points.
Half Time Score: Templenoe 0-05, St Breckans 0-03.
Templenoe had the perfect start to the second half with Adrian Spillane splitting the posts from throw in, after he soloed through the Breckans defence. Then St Breckans missed a gilt edge chance to blow the game wide open, when Colm O’Brien looked to be through on goal only to pull his shot low and wide of the posts. Templenoe’s Stephen O’Sullivan and Killian Spillane traded frees with St Breckans Aidan Davidson (2) to make score 0-08 to 0-05 after 41 minutes. But then the Clare side suffered a big setback, when Liam Tierney picked up a second yellow to reduce St Breckans to 14 men and a minute later things got even worse for them, when Breckans lost their impressive long range free taker Padraig Kelly to a black card. Templenoe were now beginning to find space and were determined to make the numerical advantage count. Patrick Clifford ventured up from defence to extend Templenoe’s lead to four points, before two of Templenoe’s inter-county stars Adrian Spillane and Gavin Crowley combined, with the former grabbing his second point of the game. Cian Hallissey was next to write his name on the scoresheet and then Stephen O’Sullivan inflicted further misery on St Breckans when he dispossessed his marker to fire the ball over the bar. This made the score 0-12 to 0-04 with nine minutes remaining. To their credit, St Breckans kept fighting and tried hard to manufacture a goal, with a high ball in from Aidan Davidson to their full forward Joseph McGann, but the Templenoe defence were rock solid and they cleared the ball to safety. Templenoe completed their shift with Stephen O’Sullivan slotting over two more points, before referee John Ryan blew the full time whistle.
Templenoe have now won two Munster titles in five years, which is an outstanding achievement for small Club. Congratulations to all the players, management and backroom team, who have all been putting in a tremendous amount of work since late last year. Attention will now turn to the weekend of the 11th January, when Templenoe will take on Oughterard of Galway to battle it out for a place in the All Ireland Club Intermediate Football Final. We wish all our players and management the very best with the preparations in the weeks ahead.
Final Score: Templenoe 0-14, St Breckans 0-05.
Scorers:
Templenoe: Stephen O’Sullivan 0-06 (0-02f), Killian Spillane 0-02 (0-01f), Adrian Spillane 0-02, Brian Crowley 0-01, Sean Sheehan 0-01, Patrick Clifford 0-01, Cian Hallissey 0-01.
St Breckans: Aidan Davidson 0-02 (0-02f), Padraig Kelly 0-02 (0-01f, 0-01[45]), Stephen Tierney 0-01.
Teams:
Templenoe: Danny Cahalane, Michael Hallissey, Tadhg Morley, Kieran O’Neill, Gavin Crowley, Tom Spillane, Patrick Clifford, Sean Sheehan, Adrian Spillane, Teddy Doyle, Brian Crowley ©, Josh Crowley Holland, Stephen O’Sullivan, Killian Spillane, Cian Hallissey
Subs: John Spillane, Pat Spillane, Kieran McCarthy, Martin Reilly, John Rice, Joseph Sheehan.
St Breckans: Tristian O’Callaghan, Daniel Carey, Evan Barrett, Cian Burke, Jack Sheedy, Alan Sweeney ©, Rowan Danaher, Liam Tierney, Dale Masterson, Maccon Byrne, Padraig Kelly, Stephen Tierney, Colm O’Brien, Joseph McGann, Aidan Davidson.
Subs: Conor Shannon, Robert O’Connell, Michael Hogan, Pat Nagle, Killian Blood, Darragh Flaherty.
