County Senior Football League, Division 2, Round 4.

Firies 3-13, Templenoe 1-11.

Templenoe suffered their first defeat of the year away to Firies last Saturday evening. The hosts bagged 3 goals in the first half to set them on their way and try as they might Templenoe were unable to fully bridge the gap the goals created.

There was nothing wrong with Templenoe’s start to this contest as they outscored their opponents by 0-03 to 0-05 in the opening 14 minutes, with Colin Crowley (2) and Aidan Crowley (3) running the show upfront, while Firies had white flags from Diarmuid O’Mahony Cian Doe and Stephen Palmer. Then the visitors shipped a sucker punch, when a speculative ball broke kindly for the Firies attack to create a two on one situation with Mark Looney before Stephen Clifford ultimately applied the easy finish to the net. This put the hosts in front for the first time.

In fairness, Templenoe responded well to this initial setback with Colin Crowley and a 2 pointer from Aidan Crowley restoring the visitors lead to 2 points. But Firies kept coming and they rocked Templenoe with 2 more goals in quick succession courtesy of Darragh Donohue and Jake Flynn to turn this game in their favour. Darragh Brosnan, Stephen Palmer and James Horgan added points to put the hosts seven points to the good at the interval.

Half Time Score: Firies 3-06, Templenoe 0-08.

After the restart, James Horgan extended Firies lead to 9 points, with two unanswered scores. To their credit Templenoe did rally and brought themselves right back into the game. The attempted comeback started with keeper Mark Looney joining the attack to score an inspirational point. Soon after Daniel Crowley added another, which Firies countered with a point from the impressive James Horgan. Then it was game on, when Colin Crowley found some space near goal to execute the perfect finish for a green flag for Templenoe and immediately after his brother Gavin slotted over a point to reduce the margin to 4 points. The score was now Firies 3-09, Templenoe 1-11 with 49 minutes played.

Templenoe had appeals for a free waved away in their next attack, which got turned over and ended with Firies putting the ball over the bar at the other end with James Horgan the provider. Firies upped their game towards the end and made sure of their deserved win, with James Horgan (2) and Mike Daly finding the range for the hosts to finish the game in style.

Final Score: Firies 3-13, Templenoe 1-11.

Scorers:

Firies: James Horgan 0-07(1f), Stephen Palmer 1-02, Darragh Donohue 1-00, Jake Flynn 1-00, Diarmuid O’Mahony 0-01, Cian Doe 0-01, Darragh Brosnan 0-01, Mike Daly 0-01

Templenoe: Colin Crowley 1-03, Aidan Crowley 0-05 (2f) (1 2pointer), Mark Looney 0-01, Daniel Crowley 0-01, Gavin Crowley 0-01.

Wides:

Firies 4

Templenoe 6

Teams:

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

Subs Used: Kieran McCarthy, Caoilte Ó hÚrdail, Rónán O’Connor.

Firies: Brian McCarthy, Chris Palmer, Danny Brosnan, Connall O’Mahony, Diarmuid O’Mahony, Tommy Clifford, Niall Donohue, Darragh Brosnan, Jake Flynn, Diarmuid Brosnan, Darragh Donohue, Padraig De Bruin, Stephen Palmer, Cian Doe, James Horgan.

Subs Used: TJ Palmer, Mike Daly, Sean Cooper, Aaron Flynn, Liam Brosnan.

Referee: Brendan Brosnan