Kerry Petroleum Senior Football Club Championship, Semi-Final.
Templenoe 0-14, Dingle 0-10.
Last Saturday was yet another historic evening for the Club, with the Templenoe senior footballers reaching the Senior Club Final for the first time ever after overcoming Dingle in a keenly contested game played before a very large crowd evening in Templenoe. All in the club can now look forward with great pride and enthusiasm to the final against Kerins O’Rahilly, sometime in October, with a few rounds of the County Championship to be played in advance.
Dingle had the brighter start with the first score of the game through a Gavin H Curran free. But just as quickly things turned sour when they were reduced to 14 men, with Dylan Geaney one of their key forwards receiving his marching orders following an off the ball incident. This put the West Kerry men at a disadvantage for pretty much the whole game, but to their credit they battled very hard from start to finish and never allowed Templenoe to pull too far clear. Indeed Barry O’Sullivan doubled Dingle lead with a free soon after and they almost followed this up with a goal only for the ball to be cleared off the line. Stephen O’Sullivan finally opened Templenoe’s account 10 minutes in. The hosts were somewhat sloppy when in possession early on and it took time for them to settle into this game, while Dingle were keeping the score board ticking over with frees, Gavin H Curran added his second of the day from a placed ball in the 12th minute. However, not for the first time in this competition John Rice popped up from the back to get his name on the score sheet with a long range effort to spark life into Templenoe. This made the score 0-02 to 0-03 at the end of the first quarter. Paul Geaney was unlucky to see his point effort come off the upright in the ensuing play, but Templenoe were now starting to get a bit of rhythm going when on the offensive. Killian Spillane (f), Aidan Crowley and Gavin Crowley all split the posts to put the hosts two points up. Dingle responded in kind with Niall Geaney and Tom O’Sullivan (f) both hitting the target to tie the scores again. The hosts though finished the first half with a flourish, courtesy of scores from Killian Spillane, Colin Crowley and Aidan Crowley (f) to give them a three points cushion at the break,
Half Time Score: Templenoe 0-08, Dingle 0-05.
Dingle had chances to narrow the gap after the restart, but their shooting left them down. Yet, Paul Geaney did pull one back in the 37th minute, before two points on the trot from Stephen O’Sullivan one from free and one from play saw the hosts open up a four points gap. Dingle are not County League Division One champions for nothing and they refused to let Templenoe push on. Two white flags in quick succession from Ruadhan McCarthy and Barry O’Sullivan saw the visitors make the score 0-10 to 0-08 by the end of the first quarter. Templenoe then suffered a blow with Stephen O’Sullivan having to retire injured, but his replacement Cian Hallissey did not let the side down when introduced. Killian Spillane and Sean Sheehan restored Templenoe’s lead to four points with two neat scores. But back again came Dingle with Barry O’Sullivan once again to the fore to keep them within one goal of their opponents. Then came perhaps the pivotal score of the game, when Killian Spillane won a mark despite intense pressure from the Dingle defence to thump the ball over the bar. Coming into the home straight, Tom O’Sullivan (f) and Killian Spillane exchanged scores. Dingle needed a goal and they frantically tried to get one in the closing minutes, but Mark Looney and his defence withstood the late sieges and duly saw out the game for a massive win for the Club.
Well done to all the players and management on this remarkable achievement of reaching the Senior Club Final and commiserations to Dingle. This is some turnaround for Templenoe, especially when one considers we were a Novice Club from 1998 to 2013 and were rooted to Division 5 of the County league from 2000 to 2011.
Final Score: Templenoe 0-14, Dingle 0-10.
Scorers:
Templenoe: Killian Spillane 0-05 (1f) (1m), Stephen O’Sullivan 0-03 (2f), Aidan Crowley 0-02 (1f), Colin Crowley 0-01, John Rice 0-01, Sean Sheehan 0-01, Gavin Crowley 0-01.
Dingle: Barry O’Sullivan 0-03 (1f), Gavin H Curran 0-02 (2f), Tom O’Sullivan 0-02 (2f), Paul Geaney 0-01, Niall Geaney 0-01, Ruadhan McCarthy 0-01.
Teams:
Templenoe: Mark Looney, Brian Crowley, Kieran O’Neill, John Rice, Patrick Clifford, Tadhg Morley, Gavin Crowley ©, Sean Sheehan, Adrian Spillane, Mark Casey, Josh Crowley Holland, Colin Crowley, Stephen O’Sullivan, Aidan Crowley, Killian Spillane.
Subs Used: Cian Hallissey, Tom Spillane.
Dingle: Gavin H Curran, Michael Flannery, Conor O’Sullivan, Conor Flannery, Patrick O’Connor, Tom O’Sullivan, Niall Geaney, George Durrant, Billy O’Connor, Ruadhan McCarthy, Barry O’Sullivan, Matthew Flaherty, Dylan Geaney, Paul Geaney, Mikey Geaney ©.
Subs used: Tadhg de Brun.
Match Report - The Kerryman - Jimmy Darcy
Match Report - Irish Examiner - Jordan Murphy
