Minor Hurling League Division 3 South, Round Tower 4-23 v Clanna Gael 2-6, Monastery Road, Sunday 29th April 2018
Round Tower Minor Hurlers comprehensively outclassed Clanna Gael Sunday morning to register their second win from two in the Division 3 South Minor Hurling League. The directness of the Towers attacking left the visitors consistently on the backfoot as our lads registered 27 scores as opposed to eight. All bar one of the panel are fielding for the first year at Minor Level and there was no indication of rawness Sunday morning.
Towers registered 1-6 within the opening quarter, with Alex O’Neill’s ball into the inside forwards being finished to the net by Liam O’Connor. Great control enabled him strike our seventh point on the turn. Another drive inside by O’Neill led to a great catch by Darragh Byrne and the foul led to O’Connor striking the free over. O’Neill was again influential from centre-half-back when he carried possession from a ruck and fed inside to corner forward Ben English to point. Matthew Kelly then seized upon a puck out and his accurate pass inside to O’Connor led to him striking over the shoulder. With the next play Joe Murray won on the left and again O’Connor was the target man and again it led to a point. The half-time scoreline read 1-12 v 0-5.
Towers started the second period in the ascendancy. Cian Proctor flicked a pass into O’Connor and he turned sharply to convert. Murray read well in the middle and his good ball to O’Connor led to our 14th point. The second goal followed. Pressure exerted by O’Connor and English led to the latter flicking into the net. Byrne struck a brilliant point from midfield. A pacy 40 yard run by O’Neill saw him slalom past three defenders before teeing up O’Connor to convert. O’Neill’s ball into the inside forwards was seized upon by Matthew Kelly to split the posts and then the third goal arrived. Kelly caught brilliantly and carried through the half forwards. He flicked a pass to Murray who jinked around the defender before finishing to the top corner. O’Neill pointed from long distance and he then drove into space to allow O’Connor cut inside and point. Proctor and O’Neill registered again and our fourth goal came courtesy Matthew O’Meara. Keeper Oisin Douglas did well to read a dangerous ball inside and O’Neill completed the clearance. O’Meara latched onto the break to strike our fourth goal. To their credit, Clanna responded in dying minutes with two excellent goals.
Round Tower panel: Oisin Douglas, Jack Quinlan, Ciaran O’Rourke, Sean Hampson, Alex O’Neill, Aaron Whelan, Matthew Kelly, Darragh Byrne, Aidan Kelly, Joe Murray, Cian Proctor, Ben English, Liam O’Connor, Adam Hanlon, Matthew O’Meara, Adam Byrne, Dylan Fassnidge
