Another year, another Kerry team in an All-Ireland club final.
Plenty of folk in the GAA world will recognise Templenoe as the home of the famous Spillane family, with brothers Tom, Mick and Pat hoovering up All-Ireland medals like they were going out of fashion in the 70s and 80s.
The younger members of the family are ensuring that the Spillane legacy lives on with the current crop of Templenoe footballers, who are driving the club on in one of the greatest spells in the club’s history and will look to crown it all with an All-Ireland title in Croke Park on the first weekend of February.
@Templenoeabu legends hangin about St.Andrews@JOEdotie @olliefavier @Darransull86 @BCFC @sportsdes @radiokerrysport pic.twitter.com/J5u652tHIh
— Charlie Foleys (@CharlieFoleys) January 9, 2016
With the hype about to go into overdrive ahead of their All-Ireland Junior club final with Ardnaree Sarsfields on February 6, we caught up with club captain Tadhg Morley, who was more than happy to dish the dirt on his teammates.
The Junior B story at the end might take a while to read, but trust us, it’s worth it.
Spotlight on Templenoe
Club name: Templenoe GAA Club
Club colours: Blue & White
Year established: 1933
Estimated size of population covered by parish: Less than 800.
Proudest moment in the club’s history? There have been many proud moments for the club, winning County Novice & Junior, and Templenoe players have done the club proud representing Kerry over the years.
But I think the current run we are on, becoming Munster Junior Champions and entering Division 1 of the Kerry Senior Football League, must be one of the proudest.
Most loyal/fanatical supporter? We have had a huge legion of supporters on our journey over the last few years. The club has a supporter of the year award each Christmas, which is hotly contested, but I’m going to nominate Joan Rice for this one.
She has travelled all around Kerry and the country to see Templenoe, especially to see her grandsons represent the Blue & White.
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Best nickname: Fooch (Fat Gooch). The player in question is ginger as well so it’s ideal. He is not a fan of the name though.
Most likely player to be found on Tinder? John Spillane. He had to limit the amount of matches and chats he had on Tinder due to the sheer volume of women and conversations he had to deal with.
Most likely player to break a beer ban? This could be a long list. Adrian Spillane deserves a mention but one man owns this ‘accolade’: Timmy Coom.
Dodgiest championship haircut (please describe): Pat Spillane Jnr. Described as an Ellen DeGeneres championship trim; short on the sides, long and blonde on top.
Who’s the last guy off the pitch at training? Teddy Doyle. He blasts so many balls over the nets and into the trees behind each goal during training that it takes him ages afterwards to find them. A real blaster of a football.
The team-mate you’d least like to take a hefty shoulder from: Donal ‘Block’ Casey. His nickname speaks for itself.
The team-mate the opposition would most like to give a hefty shoulder to: Patrick Clifford; he wears pink on his boots and his self-confidence has no bounds.
Oldest player to ever have played for the club: Timmy Sheehan.
Player with the longest distance to travel to training: Michael Hallissey, John Spillane and Tadhg Morley; four hours from Dublin to Templenoe every Friday night
Last guy you’d want to take a penalty in the last minute of a county final: Shane Cremin (he won’t like this).
Player you’re most likely to mute in the club WhatsApp group: Johnny Moe (poor jokes).
Best ‘Junior B story’ involving your club: In Templenoe and Blackwater there are a few rivers plentiful with fish and during the summer, many people used to poach the rivers and sell off the fish.
One year in the 2000s, a man arrived to the Blackwater Tavern selling fish he had caught. There were a few of the players in the bar having a few pints and also one of the selectors. One of the players, Mike John O’ Sullivan, bought two fish off this man and as a prank he put them in the boot of the selector’s car. In fact, he put it in the team medical bag, thinking Dan Sullivan – the selector – would come across them that evening.
However, the team medical bag was, number one: rarely brought to any game and number two: rarely used.
Anyway, Templenoe did reasonably well in Division 5 that year and were chasing promotion in an away game against Ardfert. Before the game, the Templenoe players were changing and trying to focus before the big game and could hear the Ardfert dressing room getting fired up next door.
One of the players, Damien Clifford, asked the management for the medical bag to tend to a ‘sore’ hamstring and selector Dan Sullivan retrieved it from his car. When Damien opened the bag to get the spray/deep heat, he was met with an almighty smell that actually made him sick on the floor.
The dressing room had to be evacuated with the smell; some players were retching outside and many of them were only half-dressed. The dressing room had to be cleared for several minutes before the players could go back in and try to re-focus and concentrate on the game.
The fish were bought outside the Tavern in mid-August. The promotion game was in mid-October. Oooooooooooooooh.
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