Late Towers point wins the day against Nurney

IFC Pre-Quarter-Final

Round Towers 0-9

Nurney 1-5

Conditions were far from ideal for this Auld Shebeen Athy Intermediate Football Championship pre-quarter final clash between Round Towers and Nurney in Manguard Park on Saturday, the final game on a three match programme.

A mist which had been falling sporadically throughout the afternoon picked up at pace during this one and it made underfoot conditions very slippery, handling challenging and overall not very pleasant for the players.

A bit of a slow burner from start to finish in which Neil Scanlon got the scoring up and running with a pointed free after four minutes..

Jamie Flynn got The Towers second point after dodging a few tackles before firing over.

We were gone by the mid-way point of the half before Towers added a third, this time a foul on Aaron McConville was punished by Jay O'Brien to make it 0-3 to 0-0.

There was 21 minutes on the clock before Nurney were finally up and running, playing against a stiffish breeze, Mikey Conway found Cathal Hagney who was fouled and Andrew Behan converted the free.

Aaron McConville added to the boys in black and amber stripes with a fine point.

Cathal Hagney had a squeak of a goal chance but failed to get any decent contact on the ball and his effort went wide.

Mikey Converted a 45m free before Andrew Behan, showing a lovely bit of skill as he dummied his way forward before hitting a beauty to make it 0-4 to 0-3 on 28 minutes.

As play continued into the Milltown end a bit of a scuffle was played out down the other end of the pitch, referee Colgan continued to play before eventually calling a halt, consulting his umpires he dished out yellow cards to Mark Waters (Towers) and Eoghan Fitzpatrick (Nurney).

Back to the play and it was Mikey Conway with a converted free that had the sides level but before the break Neil Scanlon got Towers' noses in front with another converted free to leave his side leading by one at the break 0-5 to 0-4 but with Nurney having their elements in their favour on the change of ends Tadhg Fennin's side were in more than a comfortable position.

Within a minute of resumption the sides were level Andrew Behan being fouled and Mikey Conway leveled up.

A fine move involving Damien Berns and Andrew Behan looked like Nurney were about to score the opening goal of the game but a defenders was on hand to clear off the goal line.

However six minutes in that goal eventually arrived after a foul on Andrew Behan saw Mikey Conway's effort come off the left hand side upright into the arms of John Merrins who duly fired to the net to give his side a three point lead 1-5 0-5 after 37 minutes.

Little did we know at the time that was to be Nurney's last score of the game, despite Towers being reduced to 14 after Mikey Kelly picked up a second yellow a minute later.

David O'Neill got forward to reduce the deficit and when Neil Scanlon landed a free there was just a point separating the sides as we reached the mid-way point.

Towers were now gaining the post possession but five wides in a row, including one free and one 45 did nothing for their cause as the mist got heavier and heavier.

On 55 minutes Jay O'Brine leveled up matters.Nurney had a great chance to tie up the game when Darragh Conway was put in by Tadgh Hagney but Conway's effort was drilled wide of the target.

And then with extra time looming Max Cosgrave gained possession on the far side, close to the sideline he decided to have a pop and much to the delight of his bench close by the ball sailed high and straight between the posts to give them the lead and the win and a date with Castledermot in the quarter-final.

Final score: Round Towers 0-9 Nurney 1-5.

Scorers: Round Towers, Neil Scanlon 0-3 (3 frees), Jay O'Brien 0-2 (2 frees), David O'Neill 0-1, Jamie Flynn 0-1, Max Cosgrave 0-1.

Nurney, John Merrins 1-0, Mikey Conway 0-3 (3 frees), Andrew Behan 0-2 (1 free),

ROUND TOWERS: Colin English; Jack O'Neill, Michael Joyce, Mikey Kelly; David O'Neill, Cathal Daffy, Sean Glennon; David Kelly, Mark Waters; Jay O'Brien, Jamie Flynn, Neil Scanlon; Aaron McConville, Shane McQuillan, Max Cosgrave. Subs: Michael Murphy for David Kelly (37 minutes); Niall Fleming for Shane McQuillan (48 minutes); DJ Flynn for Neil Scanlon (53 minutes).

NURNEY: Niall Donnelly; Neil Kelly, Adam Talbot, Darragh Conway; Eoghan Fitzpatrick, Tadgh Hagney, Owen Kealey; Michael Conway, Ciaran Callan, Darren Byrne; Damien Berns, Andrew Behan, John Merrins.

REFEREE: Niall Colgan.