ADULT FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION TWO ROUND-UP: JULY 27
ADULT FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION TWO ROUND-UP: JULY 27
By Daire Walsh
Castleknock held off a late surge from St Mary’s, Saggart on Saturday afternoon to move two points clear at the top of the Adult Football League Division Two table.
Tied on 22 points with St Sylvester’s heading into the latest round of fixtures, the latter’s 2-16 to 2-15 defeat at the hands of Ballyboughal finally opens up a gap at the summit. Despite recording eight wins on the bounce in advance of their trip to Saggart, Castleknock nevertheless realised they could ill-afford any slip-ups in the race for automatic promotion.
Their sole reversal of the present campaign was in an away meeting with Sylvester’s on May 8, butthey have played with great confidence and authority ever since. Following a tentative opening to their showdown with Mary’s, Tommy McDaniel eventually broke the deadlock with an eighth-minute point.
The dependable attacker quickly supplemented this effort through a magnificent individual goal, before Mary’s registered a brace of scores to get them up and running on home soil. Castleknock breathed a sigh of relief when Collie Neville cleared a goal-bound Mary’s strike off the line and while McDaniel added a three-point salvo for the visitors, it was the hosts who enjoyed the brighter end to the first half.
They amassed 1-3 without reply to edged in front by the bare minimum at the interval (1-5 to 1-4). Caslteknock were not prepared to let this opportunity go to waste, though, and a powerful third-quarter showing subsequently got them back on track.
Mattie Walsh, McDaniel and John Kindlon all split the posts to herald a dominant spell for Lar Norton’s side. Named in the forward line, James Sherry played a withdrawn role for much of the action.
This didn’t stop him venturing forward when the time was right and after McDaniel and Walsh combined to great effect, he was in the right place to fire home for an excellent three-pointer. Now that momentum was very much back on their side, Ben Galvin, Fintan Sweeney and McDaniel bagged points to give Castleknock an emphatic eight-point lead in the closing stages.
McDaniel finished with 1-6 to his name but with the final whistle in sight, a leg injury brought his day to an end. In his absence, Mary’s registered 2-1 without reply to leave the bare minimum between the teams.
Yet, Castleknock held firm during an extended spell of stoppage-time and Conor Chawke made sure of their 2-11 to 3-6 success with a dramatic point. They are now in pole position to top the second-tier, but Clontarf are joining Sylvester’s in offering a stern resistance to their title challenge.
At St Anne’s Park, ‘Tarf made it 10 wins in succession courtesy of a 3-13 to 1-17 triumph against Whitehall Colmcille. Naomh Mearnog are also in the running for promotion and their convincing 4-16 to 0-16 victory over Kilmacud Crokes ‘B’ at Portmarnock leaves them just two points adrift of Sylvester’s and Clontarf.
Tom Galvin and Shane Byrne (penalty) found the net for Round Tower Clondalkin on Saturday, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a narrow loss against namesakes Round Tower Lusk (2-10 to 2-9).
Elsewhere, Naomh Olaf and Na Fianna ‘B’ consolidated their Division Two status with respective home wins. At St Mobhi Road, Na Fianna had a single point to spare (2-11 to 1-13) over fellow northsiders Scoil Ui Chonaill.
Naomh Olaf were pushed all the way by Raheny in Pairc Ui Bhriain, before ultimately recording a three-point success (1-10 to 0-10).
Meanwhile, St Patrick’s, Palmerstown finally opened their league account for 2019 in a 1-15 to 0-16 victory against Naomh Fionnbarra at Glenauline Park. This moves them level on points with the Cabra outfit heading towards the penultimate round of fixtures on August 17.