Garvey’s County Senior Football Championship, Quarter-Final.
Templenoe 1-09, Dingle 0-20.
Templenoe made their exit from the county senior championship last Sunday in Fitzgerald Stadium at the hands of a formidable Dingle side. There was only one point separating the sides at the 41st minute, but Dingle outscored Templenoe by eight to one in the last 20 minutes to comfortably book their place in the semi-finals.
Templenoe went into this game without county player Adrian Spillane, who was ruled out due to a calf injury and his presence was sorely missed. Dingle almost got in for an early goal when Cathal Bambury tried to steer the ball to the net after Paul Geaney passed it across the goal, but good defending from Michael Hallissey kept them out. Apart from that scare, Templenoe started well and went two points in front with the Crowley brothers Daniel and Aidan both finding the target. Dingle countered with Cathal Bambury and Paul Geaney doing likewise for the recently crowned club champions. Killian Spillane edged Templenoe ahead again after he showed great skill to engineer a brilliant score with his back pretty much to the goal. This made the score 0-03 to 0-02 after 13 minutes of play. But then Dingle started to get on top around the middle of the field putting pressure on the Templenoe kick outs to score five unanswered points courtesy of Dylan Geaney, Cathal Bambury and Paul Geaney (3). Templenoe rallied again before the break with points from Colin Crowley and Killian Spillane with another wonderful effort to reduce the margin to two going into the interval.
Half Time Score: Templenoe 0-05, Dingle 0-07.
Cathal Bambury and Dylan Geaney traded scores with Killian Spillane (2) in the opening minutes of the second half, before Stephen O’Sullivan rocked Dingle with a goal after he somehow cut through the Dingle defence after receiving a Brian Crowley pass to regain the lead for Templenoe in the 35th minute making the score 1-07 to 0-09. This raised the hopes of the Templenoe supporters present of reaching a first ever county championship semi-final. However, Dingle refused to let this unsettle them and they duly got the next three scores with Matthew Flaherty and Conor Geaney (2) splitting the posts to put them two points to the good once more. Aidan Crowley did keep Templenoe well in the hunt after he converted a placed ball to reduce the margin to one point on the 41st minute, but that was as close as Templenoe could get approaching the final quarter. The last 20 minutes belonged to Dingle for whom Templenoe were a bogey side in recent years and Dingle were very determined not to suffer the same faith as they did the club championship semi-final of 2022 and the first round of the county championship in 2020. Dingle extended their advantage and subsequently turned the screw somewhat with the Geaneys - Paul, Dylan, Conor (3) and Niall all chipping in, while Brian O’Connor and Tom O’Sullivan also got in on the act. Templenoe’s only response in between was a pointed free from Killian Spillane, as they just seemed run out of steam in the final quarter.
Final Score: Templenoe 1-09, Dingle 0-20.
All in all, 2023 was still another successful year for our senior footballers. We retained our senior status, reached the last eight of the county championship, finished joint fourth in the County League Division 2, won our second South Kerry league title and in doing so claimed our first silverware since winning the Munster Club Intermediate Championship back in December 2019. Well done to all our players and management for continuing to do the club proud.
Scorers:
Dingle: Paul Geaney 0-05 (2f) (2m), Conor Geaney 0-05 (1f) (1m), Cathal Bambury 0-03, Dylan Geaney 0-03, Niall Geaney 0-01, Tom O’Sullivan 0-01, Brian O’Connor 0-01, Matthew Flaherty 0-01.
Templenoe: Killian Spillane 0-05 (2f) (1m), Stephen O’Sullivan 1-00, Aidan Crowley 0-02 (1f), Colin Crowley 0-01, Daniel Crowley 0-01.
Wides:
Templenoe: 5, Dingle: 1
Teams:
Templenoe: Mark Looney, Michael Hallissey, Kieran O’Neill, Mark Casey, Brian Crowley, Tadhg Morley, Martin Reilly, Sean Sheehan, Gavin Crowley, Daniel Crowley, Patrick Clifford ©, Colin Crowley, Stephen O’Sullivan, Aidan Crowley, Killian Spillane.
Subs Used: Kieran McCarthy, Ciaran Crowley, Joseph Sheehan.
Dingle: Gavin H Curran, Conor Flannery, Conor O’Sullivan, Tom Leo O’Sullivan, Niall Geaney, Tom O’Sullivan, Brian O’Connor, Darragh O’Sullivan, Mark O’Connor, Mikey Geaney, Dylan Geaney, Billy O’Connor, Conor Geaney, Paul Geaney, Cathal Bambury.
Subs Used: Matthew Flaherty, Micheal Flannery, Paul Devane, Eoghan Hoare.
Referee: Seamus Mulvihill (St Senans)
Articles:
Irish Examiner Match Report: https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-41248408.html
The Kerryman Match Report: https://www.independent.ie/regionals/kerry/sport/gaa/kerry-sfc-dingle
