Second half surge carries Spa into last four

Kerry Club senior championship

Spa 1-16 

Na Gaeil 0-12 

A scintillating and clinical second half performance saw an extremely efficient Spa advance to the semi-finals of the Kerry senior club football championship following this impressive Group A (Round 3) victory over hosts Na Gaeil in Tralee.

Two points in arrears at the interval (0-7 to 0-5), having played with the breeze, the visitors appeared to be in a spot of bother but, upping it several gears on the resumption, they quickly gained supremacy and their victory was assured well before the final whistle.

It was a different story in the first half where Na Gaeil dug in superbly against the elements, were resolute in defence, competitive at midfield, and had Jack Sheehan and Dan Goggin kicking two brilliant points before the half-time whistle, as Spa’s David Spillane was denied a goal by a Devon Burns’ save.

The effervescent Spillane set the tone for his side when the second period started, slotting over the first two points, and with Liam Kearney prominent around the middle against Jack Barry, and Gary Vaughan sticking to Diarmuid O’Connor with notable diligence, Spa began to take control.

Seven unanswered points, between the 36th and 52nd minutes, was basically the winning of the game for the Killarney outfit as they stormed into a comfortable lead (0-14 to 0-8), and they could have driven the knife in further during that period if Mike O’Donoghue’s rocket hadn’t rebounded back off the crossbar.

With Dan O’Donoghue, Shane Lynch and Shane Cronin shutting up shop at the back, and a lively forward line making hay around the work-rate and link-up play of Spillane and Evan Cronin, there was no way back for Na Gaeil, who lost key defenders Enda O’Connor and Damien Bourke to injury.

Even though the contest was slipping away from them, Na Gaeil kept plugging away, Darragh Reen and Andrew Barry notching a couple of nice points, as substitute Dan O’Connor gave them an attacking focal point in the full-forward line, but Spa were always able to withstand any real pressure.

The icing on the cake for the winners arrived four minutes into injury-time when Shane Cronin’s determined run up the left wing ended with his fisted pass across goal being finished to the net by top scorer David Spillane, setting Spa up for a semi-final encounter next weekend. Na Gaeil, meanwhile, consolidate their position at this level for next season.

Scorers for Spa: D Spillane 1-3, E Cronin 0-5 (0-3fs, 0-1mk), M Foley 0-3 (0-2fs), C Spillane, M O’Donoghue, L Kearney, C Tobin, S Lynch 0-1 each.

Scorers for Na Gaeil: Diarmuid O’Connor 0-7 (fs), J Sheehan, D Goggin, J Bourke, D Reen, A Barry 0-1 each.

SPA: J Devane; E O’Donoghue, D O’Donoghue, E Fitzgerald; S Lynch, S Cronin, G Vaughan; L Kearney, C Spillane; R Carroll, E Cronin, M O’Donoghue; C Murphy, M Foley, D Spillane.

Subs: B Lynch for Murphy, inj (11 mins), C Tobin for M O’Donoghue (52 mins), L Spillane for Foley (58 mins), Eoin Cronin for Carroll (60+3 mins).

NA GAEIL: D Burns; E O’Connor, N O’Mahony, D Bourke; F Barry, E Doody, J Doyle; Diarmuid O’Connor, J Barry; K O’Donovan, D Goggin, J O’Connor; J Bourke, D Reen, J Sheehan.

Subs: L Barrett for E O’Connor, inj (33 mins), A Barry for D Bourke, inj (41 mins), Dan O’Connor for O’Donovan (44 mins), S O’Connor for J O’Connor (58 mins), D Cooney for J Bourke (58 mins).

Referee: E Moran (Ballydonoghue).