County Senior Football League, Division 2, Round 2.

Firies 1-08, Templenoe 2-05.

Templenoe made the trip to Farranfore to take on newly promoted Firies in round 2 of the county league last Sunday. A draw was the final result, but probably fair to say that Templenoe will be the happier of the two sides with the outcome, having been behind for so long until two goals within a minute from Daniel Crowley late on blew the contest wide open.

The match was played in dry conditions with a cross field breeze, which appeared to make it harder for both teams to score from long range. Templenoe were boosted by the availability of Gavin Crowley. Firies almost got off to the ideal start when Cian Doe found himself inside the Templenoe defence only to pull his shot wide. However, five minutes later the home side did raise a green flag, after a Padraig de Bruin strike just about made it over the line. Templenoe replied with points from Stephen O’Sullivan and Aidan Crowley, but Firies were motoring better and playing with more cohesion in the first half, hit back with Niall Donohue, James Horgan (f) and Stephen Palmer all splitting the posts. This made the score 1-03 to 0-02 after 18 minutes. Things did not improve for the visitors in the remaining minutes of the first half with further Firies points from James Horgan (f) and Jake Flynn adding to their woes and in between Templenoe’s Daniel Crowley had a goal bound shot well saved by Firies keeper Trevor O’Shea.  On a day where Templenoe kicked a total of 8 wides compared to 5 from Firies, scores were hard earned and Aidan Crowley had to battle past two Firies defenders to bag Templenoe’s third point of the day just before the half time whistle.

Half Time Score: Firies 1-05, Templenoe 0-03.

At the restart, Mark Looney was called upon to deny a goal from Firies Stephen Palmer after he found himself one on one with the Templenoe keeper. The visitors were then hit with a further blow, when Michael Hallissey had to retire injured. Firies however were showing no mercy and extended their lead to six points with Cian Doe getting his name on the scoreboard. Jack Sherwood and Gavin Crowley were having a mighty duel at midfield throughout, but it was Templenoe’s other midfielder Sean Sheehan who was next to find the range with a fine score from distance. Stephen O’Sullivan added another with Templenoe’s only point from a placed ball, before TJ Palmer ventured up from defence to keep Firies in control position with a well taken point to make it 1-07 to 0-05 after 44 minutes of play. Three wides on the trot followed from Templenoe and the game looked like it was reaching an inevitable conclusion, but Daniel Crowley didn’t read that script. Two goals within minute after two good team moves, saw Stephen O’Sullivan pick out Daniel Crowley both times with the latter finishing to the net perfectly on the double. Templenoe were now ahead for the first time 1-07 to 2-05 with only 5 minutes remaining and suddenly the pressure was on Firies. Templenoe funnelled bodies back in a bid to close out the game and it worked initially, but Firies remained patient and grabbed their equalized through the boot of Padraig de Bruin. There was still time for either side to steal it at the finish, but no further score materialised.

Final Score: Firies 1-08, Templenoe 2-05.

Scorers:

Firies: Padraig de Bruin 1-01, James Horgan 0-02 (2f), Stephen Palmer 0-01, Niall Donohue 0-01, Jake Flynn 0-01, Cian Doe 0-01, TJ Palmer 0-01.

Templenoe: Daniel Crowley 2-00, Aidan Crowley 0-02, Stephen O’Sullivan 0-02 (1f), Sean Sheehan 0-01.

Teams:

Firies: Trevor O’Shea, Chris Palmer, Diarmuid Brosnan, Brian O’Leary, TJ Palmer, Niall Donohue, Diarmuid O’Mahony, Jack Sherwood, Pat Daly, Darragh Donohue, James Horgan, Padraig de Bruin, Stephen Palmer, Jake Flynn, Cian Doe.

Subs used: Sean Burke, Sean Cooper.

Templenoe: Mark Looney, Michael Hallissey, Kieran O’Neill, John Rice, Ciaran Crowley, Joseph Sheehan, Kieran McCarthy, Sean Sheehan, Gavin Crowley, Martin Reilly, Colin Crowley, John Moriarty, Stephen O’Sullivan, Aidan Crowley, Daniel Crowley.

Subs used: Hugh Granville, Patrick Clifford, Michael F O’Connor.