Minor Division 1 League
Sunday 17th February 2013
Played at Round Towers
Round Towers 1-9 Kilcock 1-9
A fair result in the end with both teams settling for a draw after winning their opening matches last week. On a fine dry spring morning a stiff breeze blew towards the railway goal on the new pitch. Round Towers had the advantage of the wind in the opening period but proceeded to hit 8 wides before the break mostly from over hit passes. The home teams full forward Aaron Mc Conville had a great chance of a goal with 3 minutes on the clock but he drew a brilliant save from the visitors keeper Aaron Mc Hale after a mix up in the Kilcock defence. Kilcock opened the scoring with a free from corner forward Conor Byrne with 5 minutes gone on the clock. Kilcock increased their lead to two 3 minutes later. Round Towers replied within a minute when Aaron Mc Conville pointed.Centre half forward Evan Flynn who had an excellent game levelled up the score on 12 minutes. The green and gold’s then inched ahead with a Cian Mulhall score before Evan Flynn levelled again. Matthew Kelly scored a peach of a point with the outside of his left foot from an near impossible angle after 20 minutes for Round Towers with Evan Flynn stretching the Black and Ambers lead to 2 a few minutes later. Round Towers were then rocked with a break away goal from midfielder Darren Acton seconds later. Mark Byrne Round Towers towering midfielder hit a fantastic equalising point with his weaker right foot 3 minutes before the break. Corner forward David Gammell insured the hosts interval 1 point lead with a nice point just before the whistle.
Half time score Round Towers 0-7 Kilcock 1-3.
Kilcock edged ahead with points from Conor Byrne and Willie Bright after 7 and 8 minutes of the second half. Matthew Kelly then equalised immediately for Round Towers before a run of three straight points from Conor Byrne with 2 (including 1 free) and a free also from Willie Bright .At this stage Kilcock appeared to be in the ascendancy, mastering the advantage of the stiff breeze. However a game changing incident happened a minute later when a Round Towers free which fell short and was not cleared promptly by a Kilcock defender, handed the initiative to Matthew Kelly who was lurking close by for the block, which resulted in the attacker blasting to the net from close range. This seemed to raise Round Towers confidence and Matthew Kelly regained their lead with a free from the ground after 21 minutes. It was end to end after this and Kilcock scored the equaliser 4 minutes from time courtesy of full forward Ronan Mulligan. Both teams were glad when referee Seamus Mc Kiernan blew for time as neither deserved to lose this fascinating game.
Round Towers-Jonny Murphy,Ronan O’Connor,Tadhg Meaney,Mike Joyce,Cathal Daffy,Niall Fleming,Scott Critchley,Mark Byrne 0-1,Craig Morris,Aaron Purcell,Evan Flynn0-3,Michael Murphy,David Gammell 0-1,Aaron Mc Conville 0-1 and Matthew Kelly 1-3.
Subs-John Joe Mc Illwrath for Aaron Purcell half time,Niall Kelly for Scott Critchley 45 mins,Niall Donnelly,Michael Breen,Brian Donohoe,Sean Mc Govern,Jesse Moore and Jamie Flynn (injured).
Kilcock-Aaron Mc Hale,Sean Melia,John O’Brien,Daniel Byrne,Dean Curtin, Cormac Browne,Lee Casey,Declan Keane,Darren Acton,Conor Sheridan,Willie Bright,Dara Mc Cardle,Cian Mulhall,Ronan Mulligan and Conor Byrne.Sub- Jason Gibbons.
Referee-Seamus Mc Kiernan.
Wides- Round Towers : 8-first half and 4-second half. Kilcock : 2-first half and 5-second half.
PS-
Well done to the Round Towers contingent who played on the Kildare County Minor Team who defeated Offaly 3-7 to 2-6 the previous day to qualify for the Leinster Minor League Semi Final. They will now play Meath.
