Towers miss out on second place by slenderest margin
Sallins' Luke Kelly on the attack Photo: Sean Brilly
The devastating Dalton brothers were too good for Round Towers as Sallins secured top spot in Group B of the National Electrical Wholesalers Intermediate Football Championship, as well as a last eight spot, with a double-score win in Cedral St Conleth’s Park.
For Towers, the defeat coupled with Castledermot’s thirteen-point win over Ballyteague in Manguard Park saw them finish third in the group and they’ll have to be satisfied with a Preliminary Quarter Final spot.
If Kerry have the Cliffords, Sallins have the Dalton brothers, Colm and James between them registered sixteen of the winners’ twenty points, six more than the entire Towers team, and probably assisted another half of each other’s scoring tallies.
Colm, in particular, was unplayable on the way to a 0-11 tally, but the Daltons were well backed up by Daragh Mangan at midfield, Luke Killian and goalkeeper Matthew Farrelly in what was the closest of their four games so far in the competition for the competition favourites.
Despite the scoreline there were plenty of goal chances and things might have been different had Towers taken a couple of their opportunities on that front. Max Cosgrove was denied by Farrelly from close range in the first half, Ben Ryan shot narrowly wide when put through immediately after the break and late in the game Jay O’Brien was denied from the penalty spot by a flying save from Farrelly.
Sallins too had chances to raise green flags with Colm Dalton unusually errant when in behind the defence on the stroke of half-time, though credit to the defence for putting him under pressure, while Emmet Ralph was deemed to have been loitering prematurely in the square when palming home Killian’s fisted cross in the 40th minute.
That chance was followed almost immediately by what looked like a possible foot block on James Dalton’s low effort while the towering midfielder Mangan ran out of road just after that as he bore down on goal.
Sallins didn’t need green flags ultimately, not with the Daltons on fire. Both shot two-pointers in the opening half as Colm racked up 0-7 and James 0-4 of their 0-12, Mangan adding the other point, with Towers going in at 0-6 thanks to two Davy O’Neill points, a free from Neil Scanlon and points from play from O’Brien, Ryan and Cathal Daffy.
Sallins maintained their double score lead in the second half with Killian coming more into the game and adding two points while the Daltons shared another five between them and Mangan deftly finished one from close range.
For Towers Mikey Kelly drove over a fine two-pointer into the Kilcullen End while O’Brien was unlucky to see a two-point free from right on the stand sideline tipped over by the excellent Farrelly to limit it to a single point.
Towers’ last chance to make a real game of it came when substitute Hugh McDonald was fouled by Seán Ó Domhnaill in the penalty area four minutes from the end, but Farrelly saved brilliant to his right to push O’Brien’s shot to safety.
While Sallins comfortably top the group, Round Towers have to settle for third place by the slenderest of margins. With Castledermot and Ballyteague also finishing on two points in the group, the teams were separated by scores difference in the matches between the three but Towers and Castledermot were still level after that. Castledermot eventually finished second in the group, and secured a place in the group stages, by virtue of having a higher score tally that Towers in the games involving the teams that finished on two points.
Matthew Farrelly; Ruairí Ó Domhnaill, Mark Moynihan, Aaron Carney; Luke Kelly, Eoin McConnon, Seán Ó Domhnaill; Daragh Mangan 0-2, Paul Farrelly; Luke Killian 0-2, Colm Dalton 0-11 (1tpf,1f), Glen McEvoy; Stephen Kelly, Emmet Ralph, James Dalton 0-5 (1tp). Subs: Jamie Cox for P Farrelly 47, Cian Sharkey for Carney 53, Kevin Foley for S Kelly 60.
Colin English; Jack O’Neill, Mike Joyce, Pádraig Daly; David O’Neill 0-2, Mikey Kelly 0-2 (tp), Mikey Murphy; Jamie Flynn, Ben Ryan 0-1; Tadhg Donlon, Jay O’Brien 0-3 (2fs), Neil Scanlon 0-1 (f); Max Cosgrove, Cathal Daffy 0-1, Stephen Comerford. Subs: DJ Flynn for Scanlon 44, Sean Glennon for Cosgrove 44, Hugh McDonald for Daffy 51, Jason O’Brien for Donlon 53, James Ebbs for Daly 60.
Ray Kelly.
