Spa hosted Kerins O’Rahillys on Saturday evening in the third round of the Co. League, and while Spa will be happy to finish with the valuable two county league points, it was a game that really could have gone either way.
Before the throw in there was a minute silence for Kerry GAA President Gerald McKenna RIP.
Rahillys had a good start and within five minutes Conor Hayes had put three points on the board. Evan Cronin opened the Spa account, a lovely long range shot that landed on the top of the Rahilly’s net. Despite several attempts, the only goal of the day came in the 7th minute, Liam Kearney’s first shot blocked by goalie Shane Foley, but Liam collected the rebound and laid off to David Spillane who buried the ball in the back of the net to make it 1-1 to 0-3. Ciaran Spillane added the next score but Rahillys quickly drew level after two more points from corner-forward Conor Hayes. Gearoid Savage and Niall McCarthy swapped scores and at the end of a busy first quarter it was all square at 1-3 to 0-6.
Evan Cronin got dangerously close on goal but his effort went just high of the crossbar for a point before Mike Foley added two frees to increase the Spa advantage. Rahillys were soon on the attack again, this time it was Cormac Coffey who dropped a long high ball into the Spa goalmouth and it bounced inside the small square and went over the bar. Spa had a number of attempts on the Rahillys goal, especially in the second quarter, but the Tralee defence continued to deny them each time. A point from Evan Cronin was quickly followed by two Rahillys scores from Gearoid Savage and Cormac Coffey late in the half, and at the break Spa led by the minimum at 1-7 to 0-9.
Evan Cronin split the posts early in the second half before Ciaran Spillane added another. Spa were soon under attack at the other end, although Rahillys had several attempts dropping into the keeper’s hands. Their closest goal shot came less than ten minutes into the second half, Tom Hoare charging at the Spa goal but James Devane had a brilliant save to deny. Gavin O’Brien made it 1-9 to 0-10 and Niall McCarthy, his effort ricocheting off the inside of the post, gave Spa their last score of the day in the 41st minute. Cormac Coffey added one more for Rahillys, and for the next twenty minutes the score remained at 1-10 to 0-11 as both sides would rue missed opportunities from turnovers, passing errors and wides. As full time approached, Spa were reduced to 14 men for a black card infraction but there was plenty of injury time and a late point from Cormac Coffey in the 63rd minute made for a nerve-wracking finale. Again, both sides had chances but struggled to convert and as the final whistle blew, Spa held on to win by the narrowest of margins, full time score Spa 1-10 Rahillys 0-12.
Well done to our team and management, and next round is on the weekend of April 23rd/24th against Gneeveguilla (away).
Spa: James Devane, Eric O’Donoghue, Brian Lynch, Ryan O’Carroll, Conor Stack, Shane Cronin, Mikey Moynihan, Liam Kearney, Gary Vaughan, Michael Foley (0-2), Evan Cronin (0-4), Niall McCarthy (0-2), David Spillane (1-0), Cian Murphy, Ciaran Spillane (0-2). Subs: Eoin Cronin, Michael O’Donoghue
Rahillys: Shane Foley, Padraig Neenan, Shane Brosnan, Cormac Coffey (0-4), Jerome Daly, Con Barrett, Ben Hanafin, David Moran, Tom Hoare, Gearoid Savage (0-2), Stephen Nix, Shane McElligott, Daniel Bowler, Gavin O’Brien (0-1), Conor Hayes (0-5). Subs: TJ Heaphy, Danny Hennessy
Referee: Brian Fleming (Currow)
Photos: Anne Holland
