Templenoe GAA Website

County Senior Football League, Division 2, Round 2 (Back Game).

Templenoe 2-11, Castleisland Desmonds1-13.

Templenoe senior footballers had a crucial win at home to Castleisland Desmonds on Sunday afternoon, to take them out of the relegation zone. In doing so, Templenoe have also ironically put themselves back into promotion contention with three rounds of the county league remaining.

It was a lovely afternoon for a game of football. Castleisland Desmonds had the aid of a strong breeze for the first half, but it was the hosts who got off to a dream start with Brian Crowley and Ciaran Crowley both finding the net inside the first eight minutes. Desmonds quickly regrouped and responded with Brian Leonard thumping over a one pointer followed by a two pointer. Then Aidan Crowley traded points with Brian Leonard to leave the score at 2-01 to 0-04 at the end of the first quarter.

Desmonds squandered a few point chances, before Brian Crowley extended Templenoe’s lead to keep that bit of daylight between the sides. However, soon after the game was blown wide open when the Templenoe defence failed to clear their lines, and although keeper Mark Looney did well to save the initial effort, there no stopping the follow up shot from Denis O’Connor for a goal for the visitors. Things got even better for them a minute later when Chris Devane made it a draw game. The remaining minutes of the first half were very entertaining with Brian Crowley and Sean Sheehan briefly restoring Templenoe’s lead to two points before Graham O’Connor made full use of the wind to land two 2 pointers in a row to put the Desmonds in the ascendancy for the first time. With half time approaching, Mark Casey ventured up the field to fire over what would in the end turn out to be a pivotal point.

Half Time Score: Templenoe 2-05, Castleisland Desmonds1-09.

No doubt about it this was a big game for both sides, but Templenoe’s job got even harder when captain Adrian Spillane had to make way early in the second half after he picked up an injury. Credit to the hosts they dug deep and put together a purple patch that saw them hit four unanswered scores courtesy of Colin Crowley, Aidan Crowley (tp) and Gavin Crowley to make the score 2-09 to 1-09 at the end of the third quarter.

Castleisland Desmonds began the second half playing the possession game in the knowledge that Templenoe had wind advantage, but now they had to go on the attack and two scores from Maurice Hickey and Luka Brosnan saw them reduce the deficit to one point. Aidan Crowley with a 45 and Micheál O'Mahony from a free put Templenoe three points to the good once more, but there was still time for the Desmonds to test Templenoe’s mettle. Desmonds duly added two more scores through Graham O’Connor and Maurice Hickey amid rising tensions to set up an exciting finish. But in the end Templenoe did just about enough to hold on for a vital two county league points.   

Final Score: Templenoe 2-11, Castleisland Desmonds1-13.

Scorers:

Templenoe: Brian Crowley 1-02, Aidan Crowley 0-04 (1tp) (1f) (1 45), Ciaran Crowley 1-00, Gavin Crowley 0-01, Mark Casey 0-01, Colin Crowley 0-01, Sean Sheehan 0-01, Micheal O’Mahony 0-01 (1f).

Castleisland Desmonds: Graham O’Connor 0-05 (2tp) (1f), Brian Leonard 0-04 (1tp), Denis O’Connor 1-00, Maurice Hickey 0-02, Chris Devane 0-01, Luka Brosnan 0-01.

Teams:

Templenoe: Mark Looney, Dara Casey, Kieran O’Neill, Kieran McCarthy, Mark Casey, Gavin Crowley, Martin Reilly, Colin Crowley, Adrian Spillane ©, John Spillane, Sean Sheehan, Ciaran Crowley, Hugh Granville, Brian Crowley, Aidan Crowley.

Subs Used: Micheál O'Mahony, Caoilte O’hUrdail, Jack Wiggins.

Castleisland Desmonds: Steven Bartlett, Luke Curtin, Cian H O’Connor, Conor Wilkinson, Cian Mangan, Luka Brosnan , Denis O’Connor, Adam O’Donoghue, Chris Devane, Maurice Hickey, Graham O’Connor, Brian Leonard ©, Kian Downey, Colm Roche Daire Murphy.

Subs Used: Thomas Hickey, Thomas Conway.

Referee: Donal Casey

McCarthy Insurance Group Senior Football County League Division 2