County Senior Football League, Division 2, Round 1.

Templenoe 1-13, Listowel Emmets 1-10.

Templenoe survived a late fightback from Listowel Emmets to get their league campaign off to a winning start on a lovely March afternoon in Templenoe on Sunday.

Templenoe made a bright start to the contest with the first three scores of the game courtesy of Mark Casey, Colin Crowley and Adrian Spillane inside the first 6 minutes, but Listowel soon cancelled out the Templenoe lead with Darragh Leahy and 2 pointer free from Jack Enright tying the scores. Mark Casey and Killian Spillane traded scores with Darragh Lynch (f), before a 2pointer from Colin Crowley made it 0-07 to 0-04 after 21 minutes of play.

Templenoe finished the first half quite well with Gavin Crowley and Killian Spillane (f) keeping the scoreboard ticking over. Listowel had chances to increase their tally too, but were just bit off target with their efforts.

Half Time Score: Templenoe 0-09, Listowel Emmets 0-04.

At the re-start the hosts again dominated the early exchanges with Killian Spillane pointing two frees on the trot. Listowel replied with a pointed free of their own through Darragh Lynch, before a great team move by Templenoe ended with Adrian Spillane drilling the ball to the net for the perfect finish. This made the score Templenoe 1-11, Listowel 0-05 with 43 minutes on the clock. But with the new rules in play, a nine points advantage is not quite the comfort cushion it was previously. 

Credit to Listowel they hit back swiftly with 3 points, which included a 2 pointer free from Sam Tarrant as they upped their intensity for the last quarter. Then as the game entered the final stretch the encounter was blown open again when Listowel substitute Tiernan Pierse found the net with a well struck shot. Several minutes of injury time followed in a tense finish and Listowel came within two points of the hosts twice in that time with Conor Sweeney and John Carmody finding the range. But kudos to Templenoe when they needed to dig deep the most they found a way to add 2 late scores from Killian (f) and Adrian Spillane. There was one last chance for Listowel with a close in free, but Cormac Mulvihill’s rocket of a shot was well saved by the Templenoe defence on the goal line.

Final Score: Templenoe 1-13, Listowel Emmets 1-10. 

Scorers:

Templenoe: Killian Spillane 0-05 (4f), Adrian Spillane 1-02, Mark Casey 0-02, Colin Crowley 0-03 (1 2pointer), Gavin Crowley 0-01.

Listowel Emmets: Tiernan Pierse 1-00, Sam Tarrant 0-03 (2f) (1 2pointer), Darragh Lynch 0-02 (2f), Jack Enright 0-02 (f) (1 2pointer), Conor Sweeney 0-01, John Carmody 0-01, Darragh Leahy 0-01.

Wides:

Templenoe 4

Listowel Emmets 7

Teams: 

Templenoe: Mark Looney, Michael Hallissey, Kieran O’Neill, Ciaran Crowley, Ríain O'Byrne, Gavin Crowley, Joseph Sheehan, Adrian Spillane, Sean Sheehan, Hugh Granville, Mark Casey, Daniel Crowley, Killian Spillane, Brian Crowley, Colin Crowley.

Listowel Emmets: Jack Enright, Michael Kennedy, Darragh Leahy, Ciaran Pierse, Eddie Browne, Ger McCarthy, Thomas Kelly, Joe Grimes, Darragh Carey, Jamie McVeigh, Sam Tarrant, Pa Walsh, Adam O’Rourke, Conor Sweeney, Darragh Lynch.

Subs Used: Cormac Mulvihill, Tiernan Pierse, Ben Carey, John Carmody, Darragh Hudson.

Referee: John Purcell.