McCarthy-inspired Kilcummin through after storming second half performance
COUNTY IFC SEMI-FINAL
Kilcummin 1-10 Templenoe 0-12
NOBODY can say they didn’t deserve it.
It was a victory for guts and bottle and battle. A victory for the refusal to buckle. A victory for picking yourself up from five points down and in the four minutes before half-time making the game a competitive proposition again.
For a time the game threatened to get away from Kilcummin. After a cagey opening fifteen minutes – which saw the sides level at two points each after sixteen minutes – Templenoe began to stretch their legs.
With aerial dominance theirs the runners-up of two years standing took control of the game in a major way. Over the next ten minutes Templenoe went on to score five unanswered points and, really, looked good value for that lead.
Brian Crowley got the run underway with a point on eighteen minutes that owed much to his talent for improvisation. With the ball breaking loose the corner-forward pulled on it on the ground and sent it sweetly over the bar.
A tonic score which raised the spirits of the Templenoe faithful in the stand in Direen and the players on the pitch. Killian Spillane, who started well it has to be said (he scored the first point of the game following an assist by brother Adrian), kicked it into another gear.
The point he kicked on twenty six minutes – taking an assist from Pat Spillane – marked the high water point for Templenoe in the semi-final. It was Killian’s second point in as many minutes. Almost everything seemed to be going the pre-match favourites’ way.
We say almost because just before that burst by Spillane, Brian Crowley was forced to leave the game (to be replaced the Pat Spillane) because of injury. Crowley had been having a really fine game up until that point and his absence would be more keenly felt the longer the game went on.
This was the make or break point in the game for Kilcummin. Given the choice to sink or swim, they chose to swim. In the three minutes up to half-time Kilcummin outscored Templenoe three points
THE GAME IN 60 SECONDS
MAIN MAN
Adrian Spillane and Killian Spillane were both hugely impressive for Templenoe, but we’ve got to go again with Kevin McCarthy. He’s in the form of his life at the moment, really caused panic any time the ball was sent his way. Scored a point off his left, a point off his right and scored the match-winning goal.
KEY MOMENT
You could argue Brian Crowley’s injury (Templenoe seemed to lose something after that), but we’ve got to go with McCarthy’s goal. Kilcummin needed a goal to win this match and McCarthy delivered it in some style.
TALKING POINT
Another heartbreaking loss for Templenoe at the business end of this championship. We do think they’ll get over the line eventually, but it’s got to be difficult to take for them.
(from Noel Duggan, a free, Kevin McCarthy and Gary O’Leary) to one (Cian Hallissey) to make it 0-5 to 0-8 at the break.
Even then most observers imagined the game was well within Templenoe’s grasp. What we didn’t reckon upon was just how good Kilcummin would be in the second half. For as much as we say this was a victory for guts and bottle (and it was), it was a victory for Kilcummin’s football too.
Willie Maher’s side bossed the next twenty minutes of the game. Templenoe looked a little shellshocked even by how formidably Kilcummin started the second half. The only real worry from Kilcummin’s point of view was that they weren’t converting enough of their chances.
Kilcummin were dominant in the opening ten minutes of the second half, but the status quo remained with Duggan (another free) and Killian Spillane (assist Hallissey) swapping scores.
A point by Seán O’Leary (impressive for the second round in-a-row) on forty one minutes brought Kilcummin to within two again (0-7 to 0-9), but even then it was looking somewhat unlikely Kilcummin would be able to out-point Templenoe. What they needed is what they soon got: a goal.
The deadly duo from the Brosna game emerged again to torment an opposing defence, this time with Duggan providing the assist for McCarthy. McCarthy, who was the winner of a ding-dong battle with Kerry colleague Tadgh Morley, still had plenty to do by the time he took on the pass.
Wide to the left on the club house end, very similar to the goal he scored against Brosna, he soon cut in and slammed to the back of Anthony Sheehan’s net. A beautiful strike from a player in the form of his life.
From a position where they were chasing the game, Kilcummin were now in the driving seat. In the driving seat and with all the momentum continuing to go their way. Four minutes later (on forty nine minutes) McCarthy drew a save from Sheehan and just after that Duggan fired Kilcummin two clear (1-8 to 0-9).
Shortly after it was up to a three point game following a point by Shane McSweeney, who really came into his own in the second half. That score – and the realisation that the game had gotten away from them – seemed to trigger something in Templenoe.
In the opening twenty three minutes of the half they managed just a single score – the early one by Spillane – before a free from Spillane got them going again on fifty three minutes.
A second free shortly after, converted off the turf by Teddy Doyle, brought them back to within a point of Kilcummin. A break up the pitch by Kevin McCarthy, however, which drew a free eased the pressure once again and with that Templenoe seemed to panic.
Instead of taking an easy point on the hour mark, they tried instead to force a goal. Still they had a chance to get something from the game after Daniel Moynihan fouled Brian Crowley (back on after his earlier injury) and Spillane converted.
Kilcummin though weren’t going to be denied. From Brendan Kealy’s kick-out McSweeney won the all important mark. They had possession and with just a couple of seconds left to run down they saw it out and won the day. Heartbreak again for Templenoe. Joy unbound for Kilcummin.
KILCUMMIN: Brendan Kealy (0-1f), Seán O’Leary (0-1), Daniel Moynihan, Donal Maher, Chris O’Leary, Philip Casey, William Maher, Kevin Gorman, Kieran Murphy, Shane McSweeney (0-1), Gary O’Leary (0-1), Pádraig Nagle, Kevin McCarthy (1-2), Damien O’Leary, Noel Duggan (0-4f) Subs: Matt Keane for D O’Leary, half-time, John McCarthy for G O’Leary, 51 Black Card: Daniel O’Leary for C O’Leary, 42
TEMPLENOE: Anthony Sheehan, Kieran O’Neill, Tadhg Morley, Mike Hallissey, Gavin Crowley, John Spillane, Patrick Clifford, Seán Sheehan, Danny Cahalane, Killian Spillane (0-6, 2f), Teddy Doyle (0-1f), Stephen O’Sullivan (0-1), Cian Hallissey (0-2, 1f), Brian Crowley (0-2) Subs: Pat Spillane for B Crowley, 25, Josh Crowley Holland for P Clifford (inj), 35, Seán Moriarty for D Cahalane, 47, Brian Crowley for C Hallissey, 58
REFEREE: Paul Hayes (Kerins O’Rahillys)