Kerry Petroleum Senior Football Club Championship, Round 3
Kerins O'Rahillys 3-13, Templenoe 1-11.
Kerins O'Rahillys had 8 points to spare in the end, but for a time in the second half aTemplenoe win looked a very real possibility after they recovered brilliantly from a poor opening 18 minutes trailing the Tralee side by 8 points to draw level by the 49th minute. However, the last 15 minutes saw Kerins O’Rahillys use their experience effectively to comfortably see off the Templenoe challenge. On a glorious evening for football with little or no breeze, Kerins O’Rahillys opened the scoring with corner forward Conor Hayes splitting the posts inside the first minute. Strand Road completely dominated the opening exchanges and they made this count on the scoreboard with Jack Savage (free), Gearoid Savage and Conor Hayes all finding the target to put the Rahillys four points ahead after 7 minutes. Then came the first goal of the game after County Star David Moran won a hop ball close to the Templenoe goal before releasing the ball under pressure to Conor Hayes who dispatched the ball to the net. Gearoid Savage added another point for the hosts before Templenoe finally registered their first score in the 12th minute courtesy of Killian Spillane, who also had a goal chance well saved by Rahillys keeper Gary Kissane 3 minutes earlier. Before the first half water break Gearoid Savage added another point to his tally, to which the visitors replied with a placed ball effort from Colin Crowley to make the score 1-06 to 0-02.
On resumption, Gearoid Savage continued his scoring spree to extend Kerins O’Rahilly lead to 8 points, but the away side who were now beginning to find their stride, hit back with the next four points on the trot through Killian Spillane, Sean Sheehan, Cian Hallissey and Josh Crowley Holland. In between, Templenoe keeper Mark Looney calmly dealt with a dangerous high ball over the top to divert the ball away from the in rushing Jack Savage. Suddenly the margin was reduced to four points and momentum was with Templenoe. Jack Savage did slot over another free for Rahillys, but Templenoe responded with an excellent point from the sideline from Brian Crowley to complete a strong second quarter for Templenoe
Half Time Score: Kerins O'Rahillys 1-08, Templenoe 0-07.
Buoyed by their second quarter purple patch, Templenoe continued to rally and points from Brian Crowley followed by his brother Gavin who ventured up from defence reduced the deficit to two points. Both sides had wides and both teams also made switches with Templenoe introducing Tadhg Morley to mark his return to action following his recent spell on the sidelines through injury. While Kerins O’Rahillys brought in Shane McElligott. Then Colin Crowley swung over a great point despite been off balance as he was kicking to put just the bare minimum between the sides ahead of the second half water break.Templenoe’s great come back was complete when Martin Reilly popped over a point to make the score 1-08 to 0-11 after 49 minutes of play. The game was now in the melting pot and the question was could Templenoe push on and win it. In the 50th minute, Tadhg Morley who was operating in the forwards following his introduction had a shot at goal only to be denied by Gary Kissane. At the other end Jack Savage was wide of the posts with a free, but then made amends immediately after, when Kerins O’Rahillys intercepted a short kick out from Templenoe and Jack Savage found space to slot the ball over the bar for a crucial score. Soon after Kerins O’Rahillys were firmly in the driving seat when a pass across the Templenoe goal was finished to the net by Barry John Keane. The hosts had further points from Jack Savage (free) and Conor Hayes, before one of their substitutes Danny O’Sullivan showed great anticipation to fist home a dropped short point effort to kill off any chances of a second Templenoe revival. The closing minutes saw Brian Crowley rifle a shot from a close in free to the roof of the net for a consolation goal for Templenoe, but Kerins O’Rahillys secure in the knowledge they had avoided a relegation play off completed their scoring with points from Conor Hayes and Sean Walsh. Templenoe will now have to battle out with Kilcummin in a winner takes all clash to decide which Club remains at Senior grade for 2021. But this game is not likely take place for some time yet as it, will be preceded by the County Senior Football Championship.
Final Score: Kerins O’Rahilly 3-13, Templenoe 1-11.
Scorers:
Kerins O’Rahillys: Conor Hayes 1-04, Jack Savage 0-04 (0-03f), Gearoid Savage 0-04,Barry John Keane 1-00, Danny O’Sullivan 1-00, Sean Walsh 0-01.
Templenoe: Brian Crowley 1-02 (1-00f), Killian Spillane 0-02 (0-01f), Colin Crowley 0-02 (0-01f), Cian Hallissey 0-01, Sean Sheehan 0-01, Josh Crowley Holland 0-01 (0-01M), GavinCrowley 0-01, Martin Reilly 0-01.
Teams:
Kerins O’Rahillys: Gary Kissane, Sean Collins, Ross O’Callaghan, Cormac Coffey,Darragh McElligott, Shane Brosnan, Karl Mullins, David Moran, Tom Hoare, Gavin O’Brien,Jack Savage, Sean Walsh, Gearoid Savage, Barry John Keane, Conor Hayes.
Subs: Shane McElligott, Danny O’Sullivan, Padraig Griffin, Diarmuid O’Sullivan, PatrickBegley.
Templenoe: Mark Looney, Danny Cahalane, Kieran O’Neill, Tom Spillane, Martin Reilly,Gavin Crowley, John Rice, Sean Sheehan, Adrian Spillane, Josh Crowley Holland, StephenO’Sullivan, Colin Crowley, , Killian Spillane, Cian Hallissey, Brian Crowley.
Subs: Kieran McCarthy, Tadhg Morley, Teddy Doyle, John Moriarty.
