Kerry Petroleum Senior Football Club Championship Final.
Templenoe 0-14, Kerins O’Rahillys 0-15.
Templenoe senior footballers gave it absolutely everything, but just came up short by the narrowest of margins in the finish after a very entertaining game of football. As Templenoe know from all the years at Intermediate level, championship finals are hard to win and sometimes you just need a little bit of luck, but this deserted Templenoe at the crucial stage last Sunday. Perhaps also the experience gained from playing in last year’s County Championship final stood to Kerins O’Rahillys who will now go on to represent Kerry in the Munster senior club championship.
The match was played in ideal conditions before a large crowd with Templenoe opting to play into the dressing rooms end of Fitzgerald Stadium for the first half after winning the toss. However, the first seven minutes belonged to Kerins O’Rahillys who got off to flyer to outscore Templenoe by 0-05 to 0-01 with Gavin O’Brien scoring the opener, quickly followed by contributions from Conor Hayes, Tom Hoare, Jack Savage (f) and Tommy Walsh. In between, Josh Crowley Holland split the posts for Templenoe. O’Rahillys had a chance to extend their lead even further but were wide of the target. Credit to Templenoe, they regrouped well and responded admirably with the next three scores on the trot, the first of which came from a beautiful long range effort from Brian Crowley, then Killian Spillane from a free and Aidan Crowley with a 45 brought the deficit down to a single point by the 14th minute. It was ebb and flow from there on, with O’Rahillys upping their game again to fire over three more unanswered points courtesy of former county stars Barry John Keane (2) and Tommy Walsh. But Templenoe reeled them in again with a hat trick of points from Killian Spillane in quick succession, two from frees and one from play to put just the minimum between the sides once more. The remaining minutes of the first half saw Jack Savage and Cormac Coffey exchange scores with Killian Spillane (2), to leave it all to play for going in at the break.
Half Time Score: Templenoe 0-09, Kerins O’Rahillys 0-10.
On resumption Templenoe levelled and then went in front for the first time with Killian Spillane and Sean Sheehan popping over a point each to raise the hopes of the Templenoe faithful. Both sides tightened up a bit in the second half, reducing the flow of scores a bit. But it remained an open game of football with neither team going negative. Barry John Keane then added another score to his tally before Jack Savage landed his first placed ball of the second half to swing the game back in Kerins O’Rahilly’s favour. Then at the other end Killian Spillane continued his scoring exhibition with a pointed free to tie the scores at 0-12 points apiece after 40 minutes of play. You just couldn’t call a winner at this stage. Ultimately, three successfully struck placed balls between the 45th minute and the 51st minute from the unerring Jack Savage was enough to see O’Rahillys win out. Both sides had goal chances coming into the home straight with Stephen O’Sullivan going close for Templenoe, while Ben Hanafin was just off target for the Rahillys. Another pointed free from Killian Spillane, followed by a point from play from Stephen O’Sullivan set up a tense finish and it so nearly did go to extra-time. A Killian Spillane free at the death was only inches away from going over the bar and was subsequently cleared from the line to deny Templenoe the crown. O’Rahillys lifted the siege and with that, the referee blew the full time whistle.
After the game the County Senior Club Cup was presented to Kerins O’Rahillys captain Ross O’Callaghan, while O’Rahillys midfielder David Moran was awarded Man of the Match.
Final Score: Templenoe 0-14, Kerins O’Rahillys 0-15.
Before the game a minute’s silence was held in honour of Thomas Gudgeon RIP.
Scorers:
Templenoe: Killian Spillane 0-09 (6f), Aidan Crowley 0-01 (1 ’45) Josh Crowley Holland 0-01, Brian Crowley 0-01, Sean Sheehan 0-01, Stephen O’Sullivan 0-01.
Kerins O’Rahillys: Jack Savage 0-06 (6f), Barry John Keane 0-03, Tommy Walsh 0-02, Gavin O’Brien 0-01, Conor Hayes 0-01, Tom Hoare 0-01, Cormac Coffey 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: Kieran McCarthy, Tom Spillane, Michael Hallissey.
Kerins O’Rahillys: Shane Foley, Darragh McElligott, Ross O’Callaghan ©, Cormac Coffey, Con Barrett, Karl Mullins, Padraig Neenan, David Moran, Tom Hoare, Cian Sayers, Jack Savage, Gavin O’Brien, Barry John Keane, Tommy Walsh, Conor Hayes .
Subs used: Ben Hanafin, Sean Walsh.
Match Report - John O'Dowd, The Kerryman
Match Reporrt - John O'Dowd, The Examiner
