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Kerry Petroleum Senior Football Club Championship, Semi-Final.

Austin Stacks 3-09, Templenoe 0-04.

Templenoe’s valiant campaign in the Senior Club Championship came to an end on Sunday at the hands of the reigning champions Austin Stacks at Connolly Park. The Stacks who had won all their group games in the lead up to this fixture, delivered a powerful second half display to give them a comprehensive win on the day.

There was a large crowd in attendance for this game, which was played on a fine afternoon in Tralee. Before throw-in there was a minute’s silence held as mark of respect for our late clubman David O’Connor and for the late Emmet Lucey of Austin Stacks. Templenoe started quite well fending off a few attacks from the home side, before opening the scoring in the 4th minute courtesy of a long range effort from Brian Crowley. Shane O’Callaghan countered for Austin Stacks, but a minute later Killian Spillane had the visitors back in front with a pointed free. Austin Stack though were dominating the possession and despite wasting a few chances, they did edge ahead before the first water break with Sean Quilter making no mistake from a free to precede a lovely score from Joseph O’Connor to make it 0-03 to 0-02 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter saw both sides been sloppy with their possession and with their shooting. The only score in this period came about following a well worked move that finished with Stacks wing forward Fiachna Mangan neatly popping the ball over the bar. Austin Stacks had something like 4 wides in this time, but Templenoe fared no better hitting 3 wides and 1 dropped short effort.

Half Time Score: Austin Stacks 0-04, Templenoe 0-02.

It was still all to play for in coming into the 2nd half. The hosts had a chance to extend their lead with a 45, but it didn’t make the distance. However a minute later Shane O’Callaghan was on-hand to fire over his second point of the day to increase the Stack’s lead to three. Templenoe had now gone 23 minutes without scoring, before Tadhg Morley fought his way through the Austin Stacks defence for an inspirational point. The Tralee side regrouped quickly and had the next score from a Michael O’Donnell placed ball. Then 4 minutes later came the first goal for Austin Stacks, when Kieran Donaghy who was dangerous throughout despite been held scoreless, hit a high ball in towards the square that was finished to the net by Shane O’Callaghan. The hosts were now 2 goals in front with Templenoe still struggling for scores at the other end. Michael O’Gara added another score for the Stacks, before Killian Spillane thumped over a badly needed point from a free to bring back the margin to 2 scores ahead of the 2nd half water break, with the scoreboard reading 1-07 to 0-04.

Unfortunately for the visitors, the final quarter saw Austin Stacks turn the screw and make sure of their win. Shane O’Callaghan continued his scoring spree with another white flag in the 51th minute. Templenoe tried hard to find the posts, but they just couldn’t steer the ball over the bar in the remaining minutes, while the Stacks defence dealt successfully with any balls coming into their danger area. Joseph O’Connor made it 1-09 to 0-04 in the 57th minute and then two minutes later a great run forward from Brendan O’Sullivan saw him take the ball around keeper Mark Looney to finish to an empty net. At the very end of the contest Austin Stacks were awarded a penalty which was despatched to the net by substitute Darragh O’Brien to extend the margin to 14 points by the final whistle. This was harsh on Templenoe. Nevertheless, it was still great achievement for Templenoe to reach the last four of this competition and attention will now focus on having a go at the County Championship.

Well done to Austin Stacks on their win and we also wish to thank the Stacks club for their hospitality.

Final Score: Austin Stacks 3-09, Templenoe 0-04.

Scorers:

Austin Stacks: Shane O Callaghan 1-03, Brendan O’Sullivan 1-00, Darragh O’Brien 1-00, Joseph O’Connor 0-02, Michael O’Gara 0-01, Sean Quilter 0-01 (1f), Fiachna Mangan 0-01, Michael O’Donnell 0-01 (1f).

Templenoe: Killian Spillane 0-02 (2f), Brian Crowley 0-01, Tadhg Morley 0-01.

Teams:

Austin Stacks: Wayne Guthrie, Colin Griffin, Dylan Casey, Jack O’Shea, Paul O’Sullivan, Conor Jordan, Ronan Shanahan, Joseph O’Connor, Brendan O’Sullivan, Greg Horan, Shane O’Callaghan, Fiachna Mangan, Sean Quilter, Kieran Donaghy, Michael O’Donnell.

Subs used: Michael O’Gara, Armin Heinrich, Darragh O’Brien, Adam Curran, Barry Shanahan.

Templenoe: Mark Looney, Mark Casey, Kieran O’Neill, Tadhg Morley, Patrick Clifford, Gavin Crowley, John Rice, Josh Crowley Holland, Adrian Spillane, Teddy Doyle, Brian Crowley, Tom Spillane, Stephen O’Sullivan, Sean Sheehan, Killian Spillane.

Subs used: Kieran McCarthy, John Spillane, Martin Reilly, Michael Hallissey, Daniel Crowley.

Category: Match Reports 2021
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