Round Towers Lusk Claim the Go-Ahead Ireland Intermediate Football Title

Image Courtesy Paul Barrett

ROUND TOWERS LUSK 1-22

ST ANNE’S 0-12

Round Towers Lusk produced a stellar attacking display against St Anne’s at Parnell Park on Sunday to secure the Go-Ahead Ireland Intermediate Club Football Championship crown in clinical style.

Intermediate county champions back in 2018, Round Towers added another title at this grade with an all-action performance. Cormac Howley was the star performer when they defeated Naomh Barrog seven years ago and along with influential centre-forward Liam Bohan, he played another significant role in the latest championship success for his club.

St Anne’s did their utmost to try and curb the influence of their opponents over the course of the proceedings, but they ultimately came off second to a highly-motivated and well-drilled Lusk side.

Eight-point winners against Ballyboughal at the semi-final stage of this competition, Round Towers enjoyed the brighter start to the action amidst sunshine in the Donnycarney venue. Before the clock had even reached three minutes, Bohan (free) and Howley found the range to give Lusk an early stranglehold on the play.

Yet Anne’s subsequently settled into the game with Luke Perry, Scott Fulham and Jamie O’Neill all finding the range in quick succession. This edged the Bohernabreena outfit into a slender advantage, only for Towers to ultimately take control of the contest either side of the first-quarter mark.

After Howley swung the pendulum in their favour with a brace of points from play, Bohan, Luke White and Sean Bollard also raised white flags to move Towers four points clear on the stroke of 20 minutes. Their buffer might have been even more substantial had wing-forward Evan Ferguson not rattled the bottom right-hand post from a tight angle and full-forward Darragh Kelly also hammered the underside of the crossbar later on in the half.

Anne’s eventually responded with a successful free from Jamie O’Neill and while Towers fired back with a Ferguson point, Aaron McGrath got his name on the scoresheet to keep their Tallaght counterparts in touch.

Yet Round Towers were playing with great confidence and finished the opening period with a flourish. Supplementing efforts from Aaron Naughton, Bohan and Stephen Moore, Howley fisted over his fourth point of the game to propel the Lusk men towards a 0-12 to 0-5 interval cushion.

Matters became even rosier for Towers on the restart when Bohan superbly split the uprights for a two-pointer from play and Howley carried his first half form into the second period by adding another score to his ever-increasing personal haul. Anne’s threatened to build momentum when their central attacking axis of Darragh Fulham (free) and McGrath contributed a point apiece in a quick burst, but Towers were relentless in their pursuit of additional scores and effectively placed the outcome beyond with a powerful third-quarter surge.

Following a neat pass into his direction close to the Anne’s goal, the aforementioned Kelly palmed to the net for the first and only goal of the game. This was followed up by a magnificent two-pointer courtesy of the outstanding Howley, who also grabbed his second fisted score of the day to leave Towers in an unassailable 15-point lead (1-19 to 0-7) by the 44th minute.

To their credit, despite finding it difficult to contain their northside rivals for the vast majority of the game, Anne’s did persevere with their challenge in the closing moments. Substitutes Dan Culligan (with a brace) and Jack O’Neill were amongst those to find the target as the Bohernabreena outfit looked to gain some form of solace in this showpiece outing.

Yet the introduction of a plethora of replacements ensured Towers had plenty of fresh legs themselves and thanks to points from Luke Caul and Bohan (two), they emerged with a convincing 13-point triumph in the end.

Scorers – Round Towers Lusk: C Howley 0-9 (1 2P), L Bohan 0-7 (1 2P, 1f), D Kelly 1-0, L Caul, L White, S Moore, A Naughton, E Ferguson, S Bollard 0-1 each. St Anne’s: Jamie O’Neill (1f), D Culligan (1f), A McGrath 0-2 each, S Fulham (f), D Fulham (f), C Conroy, D McGrath, L Perry, Jack O’Neill 0-1 each.

Round Towers Lusk: R O’Brien; F Moore Fogarty, D Clarke, J Hanratty; L Caul, C Tonge, L White; S Moore, S Harford; A Naughton, L Bohan, E Ferguson; S Bollard, D Kelly, C Howley. Subs: A Howley for Ferguson, R Caul for Kelly (both 49), D Kiely for Harford, K Healy for Bollard (both 51), D Groblar for C Howley (54).

St Anne’s: E Murphy; S Walsh, S DeLappe, C Conroy; D McGrath, S Flood, C O’Byrne; S McCahill, C Barnes; Jamie O’Neill, A McGrath, S Stewart; L Perry, D Fulham, S Fulham. Subs: S Coghlan for Perry (h-t), Jack O’Neill for D Fulham, M Wilson for Jamie O’Neill (both 42), E Kennedy for Stewart (48), D Culligan for Coghlan (54), Coghlan for DeLappe (59).

Referee: Luke Lacey (Na Fianna).