Round Tower 1-6 ,Ballyboden 1-9, Junior E Hurling Championship, Report by John Quinlan.
On a perfect Summer’s day for hurling the junior hurlers came up just short against a strong Ballyboden team in the Community Centre on Sunday the 14th. With both teams unbeaten to date in the championship, this game would have a major impact on who would qualify directly for the semi final .
In a game in which there was never more than a few points in it, Towers got off to a good start with a point from Darren Gilligan putting us ahead. After both teams traded points, Darren struck for a goal after a powerful run through the centre. It was key in giving Towers the lead at half-time, 1-3 to 0-4. With John Delaney dominating in goal and our defence keeping things very tight, we were where we wanted to be at half time.
An overhead pull by Philly Carroll – despite the attentions of ex Towers player Ray Mckenna – put us a further point ahead on the restart. We then had a man sent off for a harmless enough tussle and had to play the remaining 25 minutes with 14 men. Against a team of the experience of Ballyboden this was always going to prove a challenge. Despite a great team effort where everyone battled hard we eventually conceded a goal which proved to be crucial in the end. A mishit shot under pressure by a Ballyboden player allied to a wicked bounce saw Boden take the lead with a few minutes to go.
Towers went in search of the equaliser and despite being a man down laid siege to the Boden goal. Boden using all their experience conceded a number of close in frees. With a goal required it was always going to be the case of going for goal but on this occasion it wasn’t to be and at the final whistle Boden had held on for a narrow victory.
With both teams still in the championship it’s still all to play for . Despite the loss on the day the team can take a lot of positives from the game. Great team spirit on a day when things didn’t always go our way nearly saw us through and with a determined effort at training we know that we have the beating of Boden later on in the championship.
Team : John Delaney,Eoin Fitzgerald,Connie Ryan,John Weafer,Fergal Power,Martin Sheehan,Niall Corless,Rory Keogh,Martin Doyle,Darren Gilligan,Aidan Smith,Wayne Brennan,Chris Kavanagh,Philip Carroll,Ciarain Brennan,John Quinlan,Eoghean Hutchinson,David Clarke and Graham Proctor.
