Tower’s shoot down Realt Dearg ascent

ROUND Tower’s junior hurlers are now just one victory away from league glory after a hard fought 1-9 to 1-7 win over Realt Dearg in the AHL Division 8 at Monastery Road.
The team were confident going into the top four playoff clash having lost only once during a table-topping season for the Clondalkin men.
Ruarai Keogh opened the scoring with a free for Tower’s before backing that up with two points from play.
Half-back Niall Corless then stretched their lead before centre-forward Martin Doyle put over the bar to leave Tower’s up by 0-5 to 0-1 after 15 minutes.
Realt were not to be put away that easy, however, scoring three unanswered points to drag themselves back into the game.
Tower’s responded in perfect fashion, scoring their first goal of the game from the hurl of Philip Carroll after an excellent take from Doyle.
Realt took advantage of a mix up from a short puck-out to score another point before narrowly denying Carroll another goal through a block from a diving defender. It proved to be the last point of the half with the score at 1-6 to 0-5 going into the break.
The second half was a lot less eventful as both defences came out on top in a low-scoring half.
Tower’s struck first after two minutes when Niall Corless pointed with an excellent long range free.
The next score didn’t come until the 42nd minute but it was a massive one for the visitors as a free-in evaded the Tower’s defence who had camped out on the line.
Donnacha Rafferty pointed another long range free for Tower’s to give them a bit of breathing space but, having been buoyed by their goal, Realt started to throw everything at their opponents.
They tried to profit once more by punting frees into the Tower’s box but, this time, the defence stood firm. Realt eventually reduced the deficit heading into the final 12 minutes and Tower’s looked nervy as they racked up four wides.
Eventually Keogh struck a free to book Tower’s a place in final where Wild Geese await.