Credit Union County Senior Football League, Division 2, Round 1.
Gneeveguilla 1-12, Templenoe 1-12.
Templenoe made the trip to Gneeveguilla for the opening round of the county league last Saturday evening. In recent years Gneeveguilla has proved to be a difficult venue for Templenoe to get a result, but for 60 minutes of the contest it looked like the visitors would come away with a long sought after win. However, credit to the hosts they never said die and put in a massive last quarter to come from 11 points down in the 45th minute to ultimately earn a share of the spoils with Sean O’Keefe equalizing at the death.
It really was a game of two halves with Templenoe completely dominating in the first half, while the second half belonged to Gneeveguilla. Underfoot conditions were slippy, following earlier rain and although chilly it did hold dry for the duration of the match. The strong wind was to have big bearing on this contest. Templenoe had the breeze to their backs for the first half and they made full use of it outscoring Gneeveguilla by 0-01 to 0-06 in the opening quarter. Brian Crowley was on fire early on with five of the six points, while his brother Colin got the other. Gneeveguilla’s opening score came courtesy of a placed ball from John O’Leary. Templenoe were motoring well and were on top in most areas of the field, yet they did have one scare when keeper Mark Looney was called upon to deny to Conor Herlihy a green flag. John O’Leary traded scores with Hugh Granville, before Brian Crowley continued his scoring spree with a goal and a point in quick succession. The goal stemmed from a short kickout from Gneeveguilla to which the Templenoe forwards were vigilant to and Brian Crowley calmly finished to net when he found himself one on one with the Gneeveguilla netminder Tadhg O’Connor. Kieran McCarthy increased the visitors lead to ten points after he got forward to fist the ball over the bar.
Half Time Score: Gneeveguilla 0-02, Templenoe 1-09.
Gneeveguilla had a mountain to climb and subs were introduced in a bid to stem the tide. But in the third quarter there was little evidence they could turn around this contest. Indeed instead of reducing the deficit, Templenoe’s lead actually increased with the score reading Gneeveguilla 0-04, Templenoe 1-12 by the 45th minute, with Colin Crowley, Martin Reilly and Ciaran Crowley on target for the visitors, while the hosts had contributions from Shane Crowley and Conor Herlihy. Another indication that this might be Templenoe’s evening came when Mark Looney made another great save this time from Shane O’Sullivan. But from here on it was all Gneeveguilla. Sean O’Keeffe, Shane O’Sullivan and John O’Leary got the comeback underway with three unanswered points. Then came the turning point when Gneeveguilla turned over possession after they intercepted a free at the back from Templenoe and similar to Brian Crowley in the first half for the visitors, Sean O’Keeffe made no mistake with the finish. Suddenly the gap was only five points with at least nine minutes remaining to be played. Templenoe did have opportunities to close out the game, but both their shooting and some of their decision making deserted them just when they needed it most. Gneeveguilla now sensed blood and proceeded to reel Templenoe in point by point with John O’Leary, Sean O’Keeffe (2) and Owen Fitzgerald all finding the range to leave just the minimum between the sides coming into injury time. Then at the death a well worked move from the hosts ended with Sean O’Keeffe firing over the equalizer.
Final Score: Gneeveguilla 1-12, Templenoe 1-12.
Scorers:
Gneeveguilla: Sean O’Keefe 1-04 (1f), John O’Leary 0-04 (1f), Conor Herlihy 0-01, Shane Crowley 0-01, Shane O’Sullivan 0-01, Owen Fitzgerald 0-01.
Templenoe: Brian Crowley 1-06 (3f) (1m), Colin Crowley 0-02, Hugh Granville 0-01, Kieran McCarthy 0-01, Martin Reilly 0-01, Ciaran Crowley 0-01.
Teams:
Gneeveguilla: Tadhg O’Connor, Jamie O’Sullivan, DJ Murphy, Darren Brosnan, Eoin Rahilly, Damien Cronin, Paul O’Leary, Padraig O’Connor, Ronan Collins, Shane Crowley, Conor Herlihy, Paudie O’Leary, Dara Fitzgerald, John O’Leary, Padraic Finnegan.
Subs: Sean O’Keeffe, Shane O’Sullivan, Kevin Coughlin, Kieran O’Connor.
Templenoe: Mark Looney, Michael Hallissey, Kieran O’Neill, Ríain O'Byrne, Kieran McCarthy, Mark Casey, Ciaran Crowley, Sean Sheehan, Gavin Crowley, John Rice, Patrick Clifford, Hugh Granville, Daniel Crowley, Brian Crowley, Colin Crowley.
Subs used: Martin Reilly, John Moriarty, Michael F O’Connor.
