Kerry Petroleum Senior Football Club Championship, Group 2, Round 3.
Spa 1-03, Templenoe 0-06.
Templenoe and Spa renewed rivalries on a wet and showery afternoon on Sunday. The previous weekend’s results had blown this group wide open, to turn this game into a do or die clash for both teams. In the finish, after a low scoring and disappointing encounter, there was no separating the sides, but the result was enough to see Templenoe create more history by qualifying for the semi-final of this competition for the first time. While newly promoted Spa also had reason to be cheerful, as they retained their senior status for 2022, following Dr Crokes defeat to Kenmare in the other group game.
Templenoe had wind advantage for the first half and they also dominated possession, with Spa feeling the loss of their former County panellist Liam Kearney. However, it took 8 minutes for the first score to come courtesy of Killian Spillane and 2 minutes later the same player doubled the visitors lead with a second score from play. Templenoe had chances to copper fasten their lead, but they failed to capitalise. In the 12th minute Josh Crowley Holland looked to be through on goal, only to pull his shot wide. Killian Spillane though did add a free shortly before the water break to make the score 0-00 to 0-03.
The second quarter saw Templenoe continue to control proceedings, but again they found a packed Spa defence difficult to breakdown and scoring opportunities were scare. Colin Crowley took on the 45 duties for Templenoe, he was unsuccessful with his first effort, but 4 minutes later he made amends by beautifully landing his second 45 attempt over the crossbar. In between Niall McCarthy had a point chance for Spa, but his effort went wide of the posts and remarkably Spa failed to register a score in the whole of the first half. However, Templenoe were far from out of sight, yet they did manage to tag on one more point through Brian Crowley before the interval.
Half Time Score: Spa 0-00, Templenoe 0-05.
The third quarter was turning into a bit of a horror show for Templenoe, when they were reduced to 13 players for separate incidents within 7 minutes of the restart. The loss of John Rice and Colin Crowley for the remainder of the game suddenly meant that the visitors were now facing somewhat of an uphill struggle despite their advantage on the scoreboard. Evan Cronin meanwhile scored a brilliant point from a difficult angle to finally get Spa off the mark after 34 minutes of play. It was game on now. Patrick Clifford was introduced for the visitors to try and restore calm. But Spa were now getting on more ball, with all the Templenoe players having to work that bit harder and soon after the margin was reduced to three points following a long range effort from Shane Cronin. Templenoe regrouped and reorganised well to effectively prevent any further scores for Spa in this quarter, to leave it 0-02 to 0-05 going into the second half water break.
The final quarter was real edge of the seat stuff. Michael Foley split the posts for the hosts to cut the margin to just 2 points. Then Stephen O’Sullivan was off target with a free for Templenoe, before a long ball in by Spa’s Ciaran Spillane was gathered by David Spillane, who turned and shot for a perfectly executed goal to put Spa in front for the first time in this contest after 58 minutes. Spa were now the ones trying to close the game out, but they then had Dara Moyihan red carded after he picked up a second yellow. Templenoe to their credit dug deep and despite missing another free immediately after the goal, they battled on and were rewarded when Killian Spillane converted a free well into injury time for their sole score in the second half. Indeed both sides subsequently had a chance each to grab a winner, but it was not to be. Although neither side were to know it at the full time whistle, the result would be enough for both teams to retain their senior status with Templenoe advancing to the semi final.
Well done to our players and management and very best of luck to all in the semi-final!
Final Score: Spa 1-03, Templenoe 0-06.
Scorers:
Spa: David Spillane 1-00, Evan Cronin 0-01, Shane Cronin 0-01, Michael Foley 0-01.
Templenoe: Killian Spillane 0-04 (2f), Colin Crowley 0-01 (1 45), Brian Crowley 0-01.
Teams:
Spa: James Devane, Brian Lynch, Eoin Fitzgerald, Shane Lynch, Shane Cronin, Dan O’Donoghue, Cian Murphy, Michael McCarthy, Ciaran Spillane, Niall O’Mahony, Michael Foley, Dara Moynihan, Niall McCarthy, Evan Cronin, Cian Tobin.
Subs: Ryan O’Carroll, David Spillane.
Templenoe: Mark Looney, Mark Casey, Kieran O’Neill, Tadhg Morley, Tom Spillane, Gavin Crowley, John Rice, Josh Crowley Holland, Adrian Spillane, Teddy Doyle, Brian Crowley, Colin Crowley, Stephen O’Sullivan, Sean Sheehan, Killian Spillane,
Subs: Patrick Clifford, Micheal Hallissey, Danny Cahalane
