Templeogue are back in the top flight

TEMPLEOGUE Synge Street will play Senior 1 football in 2025 after defeating Naomh Barrog by ten points in the Go-Ahead Ireland Dublin Senior Two Football Championship semi-final.

The quality of their attack essentially won the game for them with Dublin footballers Niall Scully, Killian O’Gara and Lorcan O’Dell accounting for 1-8 of their 2-14 total.

Scully was on fire in the opening half, scoring five points as Templeogue led 0-09 to 0-04 at the break, with the wind in their favour.

Barrog came back into the game in the second half but goals in added time from Killian O’Gara and Bruce Waldron ensured a comfortable victory for Templeogue in the end.

Lorcan O’Dell opened the scoring in the third minute of the match, having shaked off an injury sustained in the quarter final.

It was obvious O’Dell was still suffering from some degree of discomfort as he missed what would have been a carbon copy of his first score, as Barrog levelled matters through Dublin Senior Hurler Paddy Doyle.

Synge Street’s attacking threat was prevalent throughout the match as O’Gara went close after 10 minutes but was denied by a brilliant goal saving block from Barróg centre-back Ciaran Gallagher.

Barrog went ahead minutes later before Templeogue responded with three points in as many minutes from Niall Scully, substitute Fintan Dignam and Scott McConnell to lead by two by the end of the opening quarter.

Dignam, who replaced O’Dell earlier in the game, continued to impress and got his second point of the game before Scully added three points before the break to put Synge Street five ahead at the interval.

O’Gara had another chance to put distance between the sides following the restart but his effort was well saved once again by Tom McGuirk as Barrog seized momentum and hit three consecutive points through Paul Tolan to narrow the gap to just two points.

However, Synge Street managed to weather the storm with O’Gara at the heart of things as he missed his first penalty before making no mistake with his second.

He turned provider for the final goal of the game as he released Bruce Waldron to finish emphatically and secure promotion to Senior 1.

Templeogue will face Cormac Costello’s Whitehall Colmcille in the final, after they defeated Oliver Plunkett’s.