McGovern keeps his cool as Athy narrowly edge Round Towers to avoid shock defeat
Athy 0-14
Round Towers 1-9
Joe Mallon SFC Group B round two
A disjointed Athy just about avoided a big upset on Saturday evening as they fell over the line against a structured Round Towers outfit who ran them close right the way through.
In what was a poor enough game, it was Liam McGovern who came to his side’s rescue as he cut the most composed figure of all in red, landing five points in the second half, including the final three in Athy’s tally as they edged through late on. It was the 58th minute before they went into a lead which they wouldn’t relinquish, and they had to hang on in the end as Towers went in search of a winning goal that would ultimately evade them.
The first half was a pretty turgid affair as the game seemed devoid of any energy or inventive spark as both sides just seemed to be going through the motions. There was lots of lateral passing, a general lack of pressure on the ball in the middle third, and a whole host of instances of poor execution when going forward.
It took six minutes for the first score to arrive, and it did so after both sides had kicked a couple of wides. Niall Kelly was picked out by Kevin Feely, and he added a fine curling finish to the move to open his account for the afternoon.
Liam McGovern was one of the more lively figures in the Athy attack during the first 30 minutes, and he added their second in the 10th minute, before Tony Gibbons fired over from close range to send his team three clear. Round Towers didn’t trouble the scoreboard until the 14th minute, and the source of their opening score was hardly surprising as the reliable Neil Scanlon pointed from close range following a Stephen Comerford pass.
Kelly responded at the other end for Athy, but Round Towers somehow found themselves level in the 19th minute as they netted an unlikely goal. It was a simple move really as Mark Waters carried the ball a small distance before flicking it off to Scanlon, and he stroked it home from close range and gave Stephen Davies no chance.
Athy almost bounced back with a goal shortly after when a fine move involving Feely and Kelly saw the ball fed into the onrushing John Moran, but his shot was brilliantly saved by the foot of James Robinson. James Eaton floated over the ’45 that came as a result of that save, and further points from Pascal Connell and Eaton from play had Athy in a 0-7 to 1-1 lead with 25 minutes gone. Matthew Kelly became the second Towers player to get his name on the scoresheet when he hooked over a beautiful point, but that was cancelled out shortly after by a fine score from Niall Kelly at the other end. Scanlon ensured there was just a couple of points between the sides at the break as he knocked over a free late in the half to cut Athy’s lead to 0-8 to 1-3.
The men in red could have pulled well clear at the start of the second half when a sweeping move involving David Hyland and Pascal Connell ended with Barry Kelly getting through on goal, but his low shot bounced off the inside of the post and was cleared to safety.
Having got off the hook slightly, Towers set about levelling things up for just the second time in the game. Mark Byrne blasted over a close range free, before Scanlon added his third of the day with a long range effort from a placed ball.
McGovern responded with a good score at the other end for Athy, but Glenn Ryan’s men were looking the more confident going forward at this stage and duly took the lead midway through the second half. Evan Flynn slotted over a superb score from 40 metres out to level matters again, and Mark Byrne nudged over a score shortly after to push them in front.
Athy rallied somewhat after that, and it was McGovern who led the charge. He landed an exquisite score from the left wing that had originally been waved wide by a couple of hesitant umpires before being rectified by a linesman. Connell almost netted an important goal for Athy soon after but was denied at point blank range, though Feely did rifle over a point soon after.
McGovern launched over a brilliant free from distance in response to a fine score from Scanlon as the game entered the final five minutes with just a point separating the teams. Towers almost blazed into the lead when Jason O’Brien skipped towards goal and unleashed a powerful shot, but his effort cannoned back off the post. Stephen Comerford was on hand to pick up the rebound and flick over the equalising score, but that was as good as it ever got for the Kildare Town side.
Tempers boiled over in the closing stages and Mikey Kelly was given his marching orders after receiving two yellow cards in the space of three minutes, the second of which was for a dangerous shoulder high pulldown on Niall Kelly. McGovern saw the game out for Athy with a couple of points from close range frees, allowing Emmanuel Kennedy’s men to breathe a sigh of relief at the full-time whistle.
Scorers for Athy: L McGovern 0-6(3f), N Kelly 0-3, J Eaton 0-2(1’45), T Gibbons, P Connell and K Feely 0-1 each.
Scorers for Round Towers: Scanlon 1-4(2f), M Byrne 0-2f, S Comerford, M Kelly and E Flynn 0-1 each.
Athy
Stephen Davies; Killian Mulhall, Mark Hyland, Conor Ronan; Sean Ronan, David Hyland, John Moran; Mick Foley, Pascal Connell; Liam McGovern, Kevin Feely, Tony Gibbons; James Eaton; Barry Kelly, Niall Kelly.
Subs used: Hughie Mahon for Gibbons 20mins, Darroch Mulhall for Foley 53mins.
Round Towers
James Robinson; Michael Joyce, Mikey Kelly, Davy O’Neill; Mark Scanlon; James Dunne, Niall Fleming, Stephen Comerford; Mark Waters, Evan Flynn; Mark Byrne, Jason O’Brien, Stuart Murphy; Neil Scanlon, Matthew Kelly.
Subs used: DJ Flynn for Murphy 50mins.