County Senior Football League, Division 2, Round 9.
Castleisland Desmonds 2-07, Templenoe 1-10.
A pointed free from Colin Crowley shortly before the referee blew for full time secured a share of the spoils for Templenoe away to Division 1 bound Castleisland Desmonds last Saturday evening. Fair to say the visitors gutsy performance over the hour of football deserved no less. This result also puts Templenoe in with a good chance of staying up in Division 2 with just two more county league games remaining
Templenoe had the advantage of a strong breeze for the first half and they used it excellently in the first quarter to race into 0-00 to 1-06 lead by the 14th minute. Stephen O’Sullivan opened the scoring with a free, then the two Crowley brothers Brian and Colin (f) both landed long distance efforts to put Templenoe three points to the good. A minute later came Templenoe’s goal in a move that stemmed from a Colin Crowley sideline, the ball broke to Jason O’Shea who was starting his first competitive game for the Templenoe seniors, his shot hit the base of the post. Templenoe quickly recycled and Stephen O’Sullivan showed great skill to finish the ball to the net after been put through on goal. The visitors consolidated their position with further scores from Brian Crowley, Stephen O’Sullivan and Josh Crowley Holland to complete the dream opening quarter. Adam Donoghue opened Castleisland Desmonds account with a badly need score in the 15th minute. Colin Crowley did nail another free for Templenoe shortly after, but Castleisland were now starting to come more into the game. Luke Lyons added a second point for the hosts and then came Desmonds first goal following a patient build up which ended with Cian W O’Connor dispatching the ball to the net. Two converted frees from Adam O’Donoghue reduced the margin to just three point ahead of the interval.
Half Time Score: Castleisland Desmonds 1-04, Templenoe 1-07.
It was all to play for, the breeze did die down a bit for the second half, but the question was could the visitors hold out against the likely fightback from the hosts. The Desmonds hit a wide and a short just after the restart, before Colin Crowley put over another placed ball for Templenoe. Then there was goal mouth action at both ends with Desmonds Adam O’Donoghue forcing a save from Mark Looney, while Templenoe’s Stephen O’Sullivan saw his effort for a second goal come off the upright. The Desmonds made another burst at goal with substitute Pat Fitzgerald attempting a pile driver, his shot was blocked, but the referee deemed the block illegal and a penalty resulted. Adam O’Donoghue made no mistake with the spot kick to make the score 2-04 to 1-08 after 41 minutes of action. Credit to Templenoe, similar to the Beaufort game the previous week they answered the setback with a score of their own immediately after with Colin Crowley slotting over another free. However, the game did look like it might slip from Templenoe’s grasp when points from Adam O’Donoghue and Maurice Hickey levelled the scores by the 52nd minute. In the ensuing passages of play, Templenoe (2) and Castleisland (1) both had wides, before Luke Brosnan put the Desmonds in the ascendancy for the first time to make for an exciting finish. There was time for one last Templenoe attack and they used the ball well to draw a foul from the Desmonds defence for the unerring Colin Crowley to grab the equalizer.
Final Score: Castleisland Desmonds 2-07, Templenoe 1-10.
Scorers:
Castleisland Desmonds: Adam O’Donoghue 1-03 (1-00p) (2f), Cian W O’Connor 1-00, Luke Lyons 0-01, Maurice Hickey 0-01, Luke Brosnan 0-01, Adam Donoghue 0-01
Templenoe: Stephen O’Sullivan 1-02 (2f), Colin Crowley 0-05 (5f), Brian Crowley 0-02, Josh Crowley Holland 0-01.
Teams:
Castleisland Desmonds: Steve Bartlett, Colm Roche, Maurice Lynch, Dominic Finnegan, Luke Brosnan, Brian Leonard, Denis O’Connor, Luke Lyons, Adam Donoghue, Maurice Hickey, Tomas Lynch, PJ Curtin, Adam O’Donoghue, Cian W O’Connor Graham O’Connor.
Subs used: Pat Fitzgerald, Kieran Brennan, Thomas Hickey.
Templenoe: Mark Looney, Mark Casey, Kieran O’Neill, John Moriarty, John Rice, Joseph Sheahan, Brian Crowley, Sean Sheehan, Kieran McCarthy, Josh Crowley Holland, Daniel Crowley, Colin Crowley, Jason O’Shea, Stephen O’Sullivan, Hugh Granville.
