*Photo: Burren Eye Photography
St Breckans have come up short in their bid to be crowned Munster intermediate club champions for the first time.
Templenoe (Kerry) 0-14
St Breckans (Clare) 0-05
Venue: Mallow GAA Complex
Finishing with fourteen men plus the dismissals of Maccon Byrne and Padraig Kelly to black cards dented St Breckans chances which were already difficult due to the quality opposition they were up against.
Some missed chances including three frees in the opening half and a glorious goal opportunity early on in the second will also come to mind when the North Clare men ponder what went wrong.
Their defence were superb in the first thirty minutes coping well under enormous pressure.
Points from Padraig Kelly and Stephen Tierney put Breckans in front for the first time on twelve minutes but fifty six seconds later saw Maccon Byrne shown a black card.
Templenoe finished the half with four of the last five scores to hold a two point advantage at the interval.
Both sides kicked two scores on the restart but crucially Colm O’Brien’s effort on goal following a Joseph McGann pass went to the wrong side of Dan Cahalane’s goal.
Matters got worse for the Clare intermediate champions when Stephen Tierney was shown a second yellow card with Tom Spillane picking up his first yellow after an off the ball altercation on forty two minutes.
Two minutes passed and their challenge further evaporated when Padraig Kelly was unlucky to be shown a black card.
Now down three of their more physical players the challenge became nigh on impossible for the men from Doolin and Lisdoonvarna.
From here, Templenoe began to display their class with excellent scores rattled off by Stephen O’Sullivan, Patrick Clifford and Cian Hallisey. As such it was enough to secure a Kerry side won the provincial title for the sixth year in a row and the twelfth time in sixteen years.
For John Rice’s winners, Patrick Clifford, Stephen O’Sullivan and Adrian Spillane impressed most.
Objective number one this year for Donie Garrihy’s men was to return to senior which they have done. They have the ability to make a splash in the top tier next year but it is they and they alone that will decide how far they progress.
This was not their finest hour of 2019 but excellent displays were put in by Jack Sheedy and Dale Masterson who were assisted by Joseph McGann and Rowan Danaher.
Scorers Templenoe: S O’Sullivan (0-06 2f), K Spillane (0-02), A Spillane (0-02), B Crowley (0-01), S Sheehan (0-01), P Clifford (0-01), C Hallissey (0-01).
Scorers St Breckans: A Davidson (0-02 2f), P Kelly (0-02 1’45, 1f), S Tierney (0-01).
Templenoe: Dan Cahalane; Michael Hallissey, Tadhg Morley, Kieran O’Neill; Gavin Crowley, Tom Spillane, Patrick Clifford; Sean Sheehan, Adrian Spillane; Teddy Doyle, Brian Crowley, Josh Crowley Holland; Stephen O’Sullivan, Killian Spillane, Cian Hallissey.
Subs: John Spillane for T Spillane (48), Pat Spillane for Crowley Holland (53), Kieran McCarthy for P Clifford (57), Martin Reilly for B Crowley (59), John Rice for M Hallissey (59), Joseph Sheehan for G Crowley (61).
St Breckans: Tristan O’Callaghan; Evan Barrett, Jack Sheedy, Cian Burke; Daniel Carey, Alan Sweeney, Stephen Tierney; Liam Tierney, Dale Masterson; Rowan Danaher, Padraig Kelly, Maccon Byrne; Colm O’Brien, Joseph McGann, Aidan Davidson.
Subs: Conor Shannon for Byrne (14) (Black), Robert O’Connell for Carey (43), Michael Hogan for Kelly (44) (Black), Pat Nagle for Barrett (59), Killian Blood for S Tierney (60), Darragh Flaherty for Burke (61).
Referee: John Ryan (Cork)
