Kerry Petroleum Senior Football Club Championship, Round 1.
Dr Crokes 1-18, Templenoe 0-10.
Dr Crokes produced a powerful display to blow Templenoe out of the water in the opening round of the County Club Championship in FitzGerald Stadium Killarney last Friday evening. This eagerly awaited tie saw a Templenoe game streamed live for the first time in a match that had only 200 people (including players) in attendance due to the Covid-19 restrictions.
Templenoe who were without County star Tadhg Morley due to injury, played with the wind for first half on a damp evening, but it was Dr Crokes who opened the scoring with Tony Brosnan making no mistake with a close range free. David Shaw added another point for the Crokes, before Stephen O’Sullivan got Templenoe off the mark in the 6th minute following a good team move involving Gavin Crowley and Killian Spillane. Before the first water break, Dr Crokes who were dominating the around the middle of the field extended their lead by 0-05 to 0-02, courtesy of 3 more points from Tony Brosnan, while Templenoe who lost Teddy Doyle to injury had another score from play through Stephen O’Sullivan.
When play resumed Micheal Burns exchanged points with Killian Spillane. Soon after both teams went agonisingly close to getting a goal with Chris Doncel striking the post for Dr Crokes, before Adrian Spillane did likewise for Templenoe with a piledriver at the other end. Had this effort gone in, Templenoe would have been back on level terms with half time approaching. Instead things took a turn for the worse for Templenoe, with the Killarney side hitting 1-03 without reply, to end the game as a contest. The Crokes goal came about after a free from Mark O’Shea found Tony Brosnan in a bit of space to fire the ball home past the impressive Mark Looney, who made a few fine saves throughout the game on his first competitive outing for the Templenoe seniors. David Shaw (2) and Michael Potts had points to inflict further misery on Templenoe. Although to their credit Templenoe did claw back two points with Stephen O’Sullivan and Sean Sheehan finding the target, but Crokes had the final say of the half with Tony Brosnan adding another point to his tally.
Half Time Score: Dr Crokes 1-10, Templenoe 0-05.
Dr Crokes with their superior fitness levels on the evening, continued where they left off in the second half with another 3 unanswered points from Tony Brosnan (2) and Micheal Burns in the opening minutes. Templenoe were finding it difficult to get back into the game and their chances were limited, but Colin Crowley did find an opening to give them their first score of the second half. Tony Brosnan immediately responded for the Crokes before Brian Crowley swapped points with Brian Looney to make the score 1-16 to 0-07 before the second half water break. The final quarter saw both sides taking the opportunity to empty their benches. Crokes pushed on to show their class by running at the Templenoe defence with pace to create two more scores for David Shaw and Micheal Burns. On an evening to forget for Templenoe, they did have 3 late points courtesy of Killian Spillane to put a bit more respect on the scoreboard. Attention will now turn to round 2 of the competition.
Final Score: Dr Crokes 1-18, Templenoe 0-10.
Scorers:
Dr Crokes: Tony Brosnan 1-08 (0-03f), David Shaw 0-05 (0-03f), Micheal Burns 0-03, Michael Potts 0-01, Brian Looney 0-01.
Templenoe: Killian Spillane 0-04 (0-02f), Stephen O’Sullivan 0-03 (0-01 Mark), Sean Sheehan 0-01, Brian Crowley 0-01, Colin Crowley 0-01.
Teams:
Dr Crokes: Shane Murphy, David Naughton, Michael Moloney, Fionn FitzGerald, John Payne, Gavin White, Michael Potts, Mark O’Shea, Johnny Buckley, Micheal Burns, Chris Doncil, Brian Looney, Tony Brosnan, David Shaw, Cillian FitzGerald
Subs: Alan O’Sullivan, Billy Courtney, Brian FitzGerald, Cillian Regan, Mike Casey.
Templenoe: Mark Looney, Michael Hallissey, Kieran O’Neill, John Spillane, Gavin Crowley, Danny Cahalane, John Rice, Sean Sheehan, Adrian Spillane, Teddy Doyle, Brian Crowley, Josh Crowley Holland, Stephen O’Sullivan, Killian Spillane, Cian Hallissey,
Subs: Colin Crowley, Martin Reilly, Kieran McCarthy, Tom Spillane, John Moriarty, Daniel Crowley.
