Hanamy's late goal seals win as St. Laurence's finally shake off dogged Towers outfit
Joe Hanamy made sure of a St Laurence's win by scoring his team's fourth goal
Joe Hanamy's late goal finally ended Round Towers' resistance as last year's runners-up St Laurence's opened their Intermediate Football Championship campaign with a 4-14 to 2-14 victory at Cedral St Conleths Park.
Twice the Larries looked to have put the game to bed when they scored their second and third goals but on both occasions, Towers struck back immediately with goals of their own as they refused to roll over.
The game started with a bang when Towers were awarded a penalty after just five minutes when DJ Flynn was fouled just as he was shooting. Max Cosgrove’s effort from the penalty mark had plenty of power but St Laurence’s goalkeeper Paul Clynch was up to the task as he made a fine stop.
There was a double blow for Towers as just 30 seconds later, Felix Lawler was sent in on goal at the far end and he tucked his shot away to make it 1-1 to 0-2.
Towers goalkeeper Colin English scored his second two-pointer of the first half in the 11th minute to leave a point between the teams.
Laurence’s answered back with two Dylan O’Dwyer points, one from a free.
Enterprising play and a clever pass by Ben Ryan helped earn Towers a free in response, converted by Tadhg Donlon, but Laurence’s kicked up a gear after that.
They scored six points in a row and when O’Dwyer capped off that spell with a goal in the 30th minute to make it 2-10 to 0-6 the signs were ominous for Towers.
But the four minutes of injury-time proved to be a profitable period for Towers. Introduced after 20 minutes in place of his injured father Jason, Jay O'Brien struck a crucial goal before Max Cosgrove added a two-pointer to leave Towers within five points at the break, at 2-10 to 1-8.
Again, Laurence’s took a stranglehold of the game when they scored the first 1-3 after the restart, Ruaidhrí Lawlor scoring their third goal in the 42nd minute when he turned home the rebound after Tom Dooley’s shot had been saved.
That scoring burst left the score at 3-13 to 1-8 but Towers just would not accept defeat. They replied with a 44th minute goal through half-time substitute Ollie Deller and two more two-point frees from Jay O’Brien, part of scoring run of 1-5 without a reply from their opponents.
That left just three points between the teams with five minutes to play. Laurence’s needed something to steady their nerves and Cian Miley stepped up shortly after coming in off the sideline.
With a four-point buffer, Laurence’s finally put the game to bed when Felix Lawler cut in along the end line and fed the ball across the face of the goal. Hanamy arrived with perfect timing to fist the ball home.
Charlie Mahoney scored the last point of the game and Deller flashed another shot just wide of the far post for a battling Towers but this time there was no way back.
After a run to last year’s final and a solid showing in Division 1 this year, Laurence’s will have strong intentions of going one step further this time around and their talented bunch of young players are maturing nicely.
Even in defeat, there was plenty for Towers to take from the game and they will still be fancied to emerge from the group, although both teams face tasty local derbies, against Kilcullen and Monasterevan respectively, in the next round.
Paul Clynch; Senan Gallagher, Ciaran Sullivan, Conor Clarke, Oisin Grufferty, Kevin Eustace, James Donnolly; Mark Glynn, David O’Driscoll; Felix Lawler 1-2, Ruaidhrí Lawlor 1-1, Jason McHugh 0-1, Dylan O’Dwyer 1-4 (2fs), Tom Dooley 0-3, Joe Hanamy 1-2. Subs: Niall Clynch for Dooley, 50; Cian Miley 0-1 for O’Driscoll, 50; Jack Dargan for Donnolly, b/s 59-60+1; Pierce O’Dwyer for F Lawler, 60+3.
Colin English 0-4 (2tpfs); Dee Kelly, Jack O’Neill, Hugh McDonald, Sean Gleeson 0-1, Stephen Comerford, Ben Ryan; Cian Walsh, Danny Kelly; Max Cosgrove 0-2 (1tp), Sean Glennon, Charlie Mahony 0-1, DJ Flynn, Tadhg Donlon 0-1f, Jason O’Brien. Subs: Jay O’Brien 1-4 (2tpfs) for Jason O’Brien,20; Ollie Deller 1-0 for Donlon, h/t; Mark Byrne for Flynn, h/t; Matthew Kelly for D Kelly, 46.
Frank Delaney.
