Relief was the overriding emotion at the finish where we gained two valuable league points when defeating Spa in Strand Road on a final scoreline of 0-12 to 0-08.

It was clear from the beginning that scores were going to be at a premium due to the defensive set up of the visitors who were facing into the breeze, and though we scored the first 6 points without reply the game soon became a scrap and an arm wrestle that we did well to see out to the finish.

Tom Hoare, operating at wing forward, had us ahead early on from a free and this was followed by a lovely point from a mark by Tommy who gained clean possession following good work from half back Ben Hanafin.

We quickly added two further points from Tom Hoare and Ben from play with Tommy again accurate from another mark before Darrragh O’Connor cut through and lobbed a lovely score to make it 0-06 to nil.

Spa did not register their first score until the 21st minute, a free by Evan Cronin and they followed this with further points from placed balls via Michael Foley who lined out at centre field.

Darragh soon added a further point from play and Ben again was on the mark to get our 8th point as we approached half time - this was after a prolonged period of keep ball which though frustrating to watch, saw the lads being ultra patient before pouncing on an opening to point.

The main feature of our play in the first half was our defending with each of the six backs putting themselves about and conceding very little room to the Spa forwards - in fact, Spa had only a couple of efforts on goal in the opening 30 mins which saw them fail to score from play.

Half time was 0-08 to 0-04 in our favour.

Tom Hoare from a free and Evan Cronin from play exchanged points before Spa’s Cian Tobin received a black card when pulling down Conor Hayes off the ball - the numerical advantage saw us with more chances but these were spurned when Diarmuid’s free came back off the post and in the best move of the game, Shane McElligott pulled his shot wide of the posts when a goal seemed likely.

Spa were now more adventurous and had the deficit cut to 3 points 0-9 to 0-6 before Diarmuid pointed a long range free but this was negated almost immediately when Spa again scored from a free.

Exchanges were now tense as both sides sought to impose their will and we were able to breathe a sigh of relief when Daniel Bowler, on for BJ, found his range with a good score to leave us 4 to the good - Spa replied deep into injury time, but we had the final say in the 36th minute when Gazza was first to react to a ball breaking off the post to point over his right shoulder.

The referee’s final whistle brought proceedings to a close and saw us move closer to safety following losses by Dingle and Austin Stacks and Gneeveguilla’s draw with Legion.

We will have to travel in two weeks time for our penultimate game when taking on Dingle.

Scorers: Tom Hoare ( 0-03, 2fs), Tommy Walsh ( 0-02, 2mks), Ben Hanafin ( 0-02), Darragh O’Connor ( 0-02), Diarmuid 0-01,f), Daniel Bowler ( 0-01), Gazza ( 0-01).

Team: Rob O’Connor, Jake Foley, Ross O’Callaghan, Darragh McElligott, Shane McElligott, Con Barrett, Ben Hanafin, David Moran ( C), Diarmuid O’Sullivan, Gearóid Dillane, Conor Hayes, Tom Hoare, Darragh O’Connor, Tommy Walsh, Barry John Keane.

Subs used: Shane Brosnan, Seán Walsh, Gazza, Daniel Bowler, Paudie Griffin.