Tower ladies complete treble
By Daire Walsh
ROUND Tower Clondalkin completed a majestic treble following a thrilling 6-4 to 3-10 victory against Thomas Davis in the Dublin Ladies Football Division Nine Cup final at Dodder Park last week.
Having already claimed the Division Nine League and the Junior ‘G’ Championship, Towers – who also won this competition in 2021 – were seeking to end their season on a high.
Their sole defeat throughout the 2022 season was in the group stages of the Cup at the hands of Davis, who were hoping to bolster their trophy cabinet after securing the Junior ‘H’ Championship crown.
This game had been delayed for a couple of weeks but, from a spectators’ point of view, it proved to be well worth the wait.
Thanks to the ruthlessness of Emily Burke and Emma O’Malley, the Clondalkin women stormed into a 2-1 to 0-0 lead during the opening 10 minutes of the contest.
However, Davis eventually settled with a fine score from Nicola Douch and it took some excellent goalkeeping from Caitriona McGrath – as well as staunch defensive work by Sarah Jane Fagan, Fran Hyland and Catherine Skikun – to prevent the Tallaght side from gaining a firm stranglehold on the play.
Nevertheless, Davis’ were presented with a potential lifeline at the end of the opening period when a penalty was awarded in their favour.
Although it drifted over the bar in the end, the Towers buffer had been reduced to four points in time for the interval. Georgia Plowman and Nicole Scott joined Douch in flying the Davis’ flag on the resumption, while Katelyn Murray, Mags McGirl, Caoimh Peggs, Kelly McKiernan and Destiny Ogbonna also stepped up to the plate.
A brace of goals edged them into the ascendancy, before Round Towers eventually responded with a three-pointer of their own courtesy of Burke. Another Davis’major threw down the gauntlet to their Monastery Road counterparts, but they responded in clinical fashion.
Substitute Kate Whelan made an immediate impact by rattling the net and kick-starting a purple patch that ultimately led to Towers establishing a three-point cushion in the dying embers of the tie. While Davis did have a chance to restore parity late on, a superb Eimear Lennon block deflected away a goal-bound effort from Plowman.