Kerry Petroleum Senior Football Club Championship, Round 2.
Templenoe 3-09, Dr Crokes 1-10.
What a historic evening it was for Templenoe last Saturday, that will surely rank right up there with the best of them, after Templenoe overcame the Dr Crokes senior team for the first time in the club’s history. The win also means that Templenoe have now defeated every club in the county at some stage, be it in the county league or as in case of this contest a club championship game.
Make no mistake about it, Templenoe were full value for their win. The foundations for this famous victory were laid in the first 2 minutes, when Stephen O’Sullivan and Brian Crowley both got in on the end of two good team moves to bury ball past Shane Murphy to get the home side off to a dream 2 goals start . However, no one was getting carried away with the Templenoe players in particular remaining 100% focused with the task on-hand. Jordan Kiely replied with neat point from play, before Gavin White powered forward to force a good save from Mark Looney. A 45 resulted, but Shane Murphy’s effort went wide of the posts. This was no doubt a let off for Templenoe, but they heeded the warning and soon after Gavin Crowley and Killian Spillane found the range with two well taken scores. Tom Doyle and Brian Looney split the posts for the visitors to reduce margin back to 5 points, but Templenoe refused to let this unsettle them, with Killian Spillane adding another score to his tally to make it 2-03 to 0-03 at the end of the first quarter.
After the water break, Josh Crowley Holland showed great composure to kick a point on the run, after catching a ball out around the middle of the field. A brace of points followed from Brian Crowley and Killian Spillane to extend Templenoe’s lead to 9 points. Dr Crokes realising they now had a fight on their hands introduced David Shaw and then Kieran O’Leary gave them some hope with a badly needed score. Crokes had chances to reduce the lead further, but uncharacteristically for them they failed to hit the target with a number of point chances before the interval, although in between Tony Brosnan did show good technique to fire over points from play and from a placed ball.
Half Time Score: Templenoe 2-06, Dr Crokes 0-06.
Templenoe used the half time break to regroup and no doubt emphasised the importance of not letting Dr Crokes eat any further in their lead. A point from Colin Crowley preceded Templenoe’s 3rd goal of the day, when Teddy Doyle found himself in a bit of space in front of the Crokes goal and he made no mistake with the finish. This set pulses racing with the home supporters daring to dream of a positive outcome. Templenoe now had a 10 points cushion and prior to the goal a spectacular overhead catch from Gavin Crowley in the half back line, prevented a likely goal chance for Dr Crokes. Templenoe’s purple patch continued with Stephen O’Sullivan popping the ball over the ball to extend their lead even further. But Dr Crokes were far from done and hit back with 3 unanswered points courtesy of Tony Brosnan (2) and Micheal Burns. Then came the penalty for Dr Crokes after the referee spotted a foul inside the square, Tony Brosnan stepped up and stroke it brilliantly passed Mark Looney. Suddenly the margin was back down to 5 points again. But then another crucial point from Colin Crowley, which also turned out to be Templenoe’s last score helped steady the ship going into the second half water break with the scoreboard reading 3-09 to 1-09.
Dr Crokes tested the resolve of the Templenoe defence rigorously in the last quarter, but the hosts remained resolute and answered all the questions asked. Indeed throughout the game the aggressive tackling, and turnovers forced by Templenoe was a joy to watch with all four of Templenoe’s County panellists Tadhg Morley, Gavin Crowley, Adrian and Killian Spillane leading by example in what a great team display with everyone including the subs that came on contributing. Templenoe too had their chances to increase their advantage in the final quarter, but just could not quite find the range. The closest Dr Crokes came for a second goal, was when David Shaw had a goal bound effort well stopped by Mark Looney. Instead the visitors had to settle with one last score from Tony Brosnan on an evening where things just didn’t go their way. Templenoe closed out the game efficiently and their first ever win in this competition was greeted with joy at the final whistle.
Final Score: Templenoe 3-09, Dr Crokes 1-10.
Before the game a minute silence was held in honour of the late Dr Crokes Patron Donie Sheahan.
Scorers:
Templenoe: Stephen O’Sullivan 1-01 (0-01f), Brian Crowley 1-01, Killian Spillane 0-03, Teddy Doyle 1-00, Colin Crowley 0-02, Gavin Crowley 0-01, Josh Crowley Holland 0-01.
Dr Crokes: Tony Brosnan 1-05 (1p-02f), Jordan Kiely 0-01, Tom Doyle 0-01, Brian Looney 0-01, Kieran O’Leary 0-01, Micheal Burns 0-01.
Teams:
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: Kieran McCarthy, Martin Reilly, Michael Hallissey, Daniel Crowley.
Dr Crokes: Shane Murphy, John Payne, Michael Maloney, Fionn Fitzgerald, Mark Cooper, Gavin White, Michael Potts, Mark O’Shea, Tom Doyle, Brendan Falvey, Micheal Burns, Brian Looney, Jordan Kiely, Tony Brosnan, Kieran O’Leary.
Subs: David Shaw, Gavin O’Shea, Daithi Casey, Terry Sparling, Chris Doncel.
Templenoe Team Picture by Mary O'Neill
