Our Senior Hurlers suffered a second significant setback in the Senior B Hurling Championship Saturday evening in Monastery Road as Castleknock arrived to claim full points, writes Mick McGlynn. It means Towers have lost their two opening fixtures in a five game championship and will face into must-win games against Parnells, Kilmacud Crokes and Naomh Olaf. A division separates both sides and it was telling for large spells, with Towers striving to join their opponents in Division 2.
Castleknock had the edge on the scoreboard throughout and were consistently capable of responding to Towers points, with some big scores lifting the visitors. Towers did open the scoring when Luke Currivan found space in the half forwards and pointed. But the visitors struck there unanswered points before a dropping strike was tipped by the Castleknock centre-half-forward beyond keeper Chris Kavanagh for the games only goal. They struck again before Darren Gilligan picked up a poor clearance to punish with a point. Alex Darbey then pointed on the run but the visitors responded with a fine strike from the left sideline. Eoin Moran won possession well in the inside forwards and was hauled to the ground and Darbey converted the free. Kevin Scott did really well to flick possession away when a Castleknock forward bore down on goal and from the resulting play Gary Quinlivan struck a huge score from inside his own half. But two mix-ups in the Towers defence and two home wides were punished with four unanswered scores for Castleknock coming into the break. On the stroke of half-time Kevin Scott narrowed the deficit to six points, 0-6 v 1-9.
The visitors struck with the first attack of the second period before Barry Whelan pointed from the left. Pressure on the Towers rearguard, which led to a blocked clearance, brought the northside team their 11th point. Towers needed a spark and Darren Gilligan almost got on a end of an Eoghan Young drive to the edge of the square. A push on Darbey led to Whelan pointing again but the response from Castleknock was two further points. Moran struck a tremendous score from distance before he flicked on for substitute Adam Doyle to strike over from the 40. But again two further points were registered at the other end before Whelan converted again from a free. Castleknock were reduced to 14 men with seven minutes remaining but the win was all but sealed. They ran out 0-11 v 1-16 winners.
Next up for our lads is they look to maintain their unbeaten start to the league campaign with an away fixture against local rivals Commercials in two weeks time. All support welcome.
Round Tower: Chris Kavanagh, Shane Byrne, Craig Curtis, Shane Cross, Jack Whelan, Gary Quinlivan, Kevin Scott, Eoghan Young, Podge McGeever, Darren Gilligan, Eoin Walsh, Luke Currivan, Barry Whelan, Eoin Moran, Alex Darbey. Used subs: Adam Doyle, Paidi Stapleton, Dan Kelly
