Adult Football League 5: Round Tower 3-14 v Na Gaeil Óga 4-7, Sunday 9th June 2019, Monastery Road
Our Junior A Footballers took a step towards consolidating their AFL5 standing with their second win in the league campaign. Towers were the dominant team throughout but endured a nervy ending when they allowed Na Gaeil Oga to creep back into the game in the final quarter. However calm heads came to the fore and the win leaves our lads just short of mid-table, with five points from eight fixtures played.
They’d rattled the net three times in the first half to leave themselves nine clear at the break, 3-7 v 1-4. Dermot Milton notched the first score from a free and an excellent diagonal pass from Trevor Clendenning led to Cathal Carty registering the second. Dave Chapman won in the air and it led to Fergus Callaly breaking from midfield to edge us 3-1 clear. Justin McGrane then released Carty on the 40 and he drove forward before kicking our 4th. Towers dominance brought the first goal. Milton won possession and Clendenning broke in on goal and struck powerfully past the keeper. The next goal followed with the next play. Clendenning and Callaly combined and Darren Gilligan broke from the half-backs to strike across the keeper. Na Gaeil did respond with two scores and Milton kicked another free before Towers third goal arrived on the 25 minute mark. Gilligan then broke beyond the visitors rearguard and flicked across goal for Carty who was composed in his finish to the roof of the net. But a lapse in concentration before the break saw the ball rebound from the Towers post and Na Gaeil attacker being first to react and finish to the net. Towers did consolidate their first half dominance though with Simon McGuinness coming forward from midfield to register a point and Adam Behan then carrying up the left and driving over.
The second half started with Towers again in control. A one-two between McGrane and Gilligan led to a free for Milton to kick our eight point. The Mayo combination of McGuinness and Carty then combined to set up Clendenning to clip over. Behan and Gilligan missed goal chances and Clendenning then left the margin at 11 with 15 to play. The visitors narrowed the deficit to eight but Towers responded through a Carty free and a Milton fisted point. But a lapse in concentration from a free led to a goal that reduced the Na Gaeil deficit to six and two minutes later a move up the middle saw them register their fourth goal and the deficit reduced to three with four minutes remaining. And the leveller almost arrived but for a brilliant last ditch block by corner back David Clarke to deny a certain goal. Towers did get a crucial foothold on the game and retained possession for an extended period before the move finished with Milton releasing Gillian on the overlap to kick successfully.
Used subs: Keith Graham, David Clarke, Brian Costello, Dave Chapman, Darren Gilligan, Jason Murphy, Matthew Kelly, Simon McGuinness, Fergus Callaly, Adam Behan, Trevor Clendenning,Michael Cleary, Cathal Carty, Dermot Milton, Justin McGrane. Used subsL Shane Boland, Chris Berry, Manus Smith, Craig Shabaan. Mark Gahan
