Johnstownbridge 2-13
Round Towers 0-12
Joe Mallon SFC preliminary quarter-final
It will be a repeat pairing in the county quarter-final as Johnstownbridge set up a revenge dual with Moorefield after struggling past the challenge of Round Towers on Sunday evening in Newbridge.
The scoreline probably doesn’t reflect the even nature of this game as Towers certainly gave a good account of themselves and pushed their opponents hard for the majority of the contest, but their inability to rattle the net proved to be their downfall.
Johnstownbridge came equipped with full-forward Niall Vaughan who is no stranger to finding the onion bag, and goals in either half from the ace finisher was the catalyst for his side’s seven-point win.
Johnstownbridge were coming off the back of last week’s disappointing defeat to Moorefield going into this one, while Round Towers were in a similar boat after suffering a comprehensive defeat to Carbury in the final round of the group stage.
Johnstownbridge were without Cathal McNally from the start as the county man continues to recover from an injury that kept him on the sidelines for much of the intercounty season.
There was less than 30 seconds on the clock when Luke Flynn was fouled 30 metres from goal and Sean Hurley stepped up to stroke over the resultant free. Round Towers retaliated immediately with a great score from the boot of Mark Scanlon who split the posts from the right wing.
Johnstownbridge got the vital score of the first half in the fourth minute when Paul Cribbin robbed possession from a Towers man 40 metres from goal. He fed the O’Neills in to Hurley who laid the ball on a plate for Niall Vaughan close to goal, and the full-forward showcased his lethal finishing touch with a composed finish to the net.
Neil Scanlon responded with a point from a free, but the score of the game arrived at the other end as Johnstownbridge ‘keeper Ken Dixon carried the ball out past his own ’45 and found Hurley with a sublime pass, and the former county star trundled up the field before slotting over a brilliant point.
Towers almost offered the perfect response when Matthew Kelly played a quick one-two with Jason O’Brien to create a route to goal, but his low shot was superbly tipped onto the post by Dixon and cleared to safety.
Johnstownbridge assumed control after that for a spell as Hurley clipped over a free and Jimmy Farrell curled over a beauty as they pulled five points clear, and it could have been more if it wasn’t for Towers ‘keeper James Robinson parrying another Vaughan goal attempt onto the post.
Glenn Ryan’s side rallied after that as they worked their way back into the game in the second quarter, with a couple of pinpoint frees from Scanlon either side of a Mark Byrne score from play cutting the gap to two momentarily. Keith Cribbin fisted over a point in first half stoppage time to ensure there was a goal between the teams at the break as they led by 1-5 to 0-5 at the short whistle.
The second half was more of turgid affair as Towers consistently narrowed the gap to two points before Johnstownbridge would offer an almost immediate response to keep their distance, and it remained like that until the 52nd minute when Vaughan made the decisive breakthrough.
Kelly got the second half scoring underway with a good point for Towers, but Luke Flynn burst forward to power over the opening score of the new half for Brian Flanagan’s men. Evan Flynn and Sam Doran then swapped points at either end, but the play was becoming very disjointed as both sides were kicking poor wides and making errors in the final third.
Mark Byrne’s free cut the gap to a couple of points once again, but Johnstownbridge had the knack of delivering scores at the right time to keep their opponents at arms length as Kelvin McNally curled over a fine point at the other end.
Jason O’Brien boomed over a brilliant point from the left wing that caused some debate among the pair of umpires, but Daniel Flynn responded at the other end with his only score of the day shortly after.
When Neil Scanlon clipped over a point to leave two between the teams with 10 minutes to go it looked set for an exciting finish, but Vaughan had other ideas. Paul Cribbin stole possession on the right wing and worked it in to Daniel Flynn who played a simple pass to Vaughan, and the full-forward turned on a six pence to rifle a low shot to the net and seal the win.
Substitute Shane Flanagan hit a fine point soon after, and Cribbin followed up with a brilliant run and point as Johnstownbridge breezed into a seven-point lead and wrapped up the tie.
Further late scores from Cribbin and Hurley kept them in control despite Byrne and Michael Joyce pulling a couple of points back for Towers on the run in.
Scorers for JTB: N Vaughan 2-0, S Hurley 0-4(2f), P Cribbin 0-2, D Flynn, L Flynn, K McNally, J Farrell, S Doran and S Flanagan 0-1 each.
Scorers for Round Towers: N Scanlon 0-4f, M Byrne 0-3(2f), M Joyce, M Scanlon, M Kelly, J O’Brien and E Flynn 0-1 each.
Johnstownbridge
Ken Dixon; Des Holton, Jamsie O’Connor, Ian McKeon; Keith Cribbin, Luke Flynn, Eoin O’Donoghue; Sean Hurley, Seamus McNally; Paul Cribbin, Jimmy Farrell, Daniel Flynn; Sam Doran, Niall Vaughan, Kelvin McNally.
Subs used: Shane Flanagan for O’Donoghue 42mins, Johnny Doyle for Farrell 55mins, Glen Doran for K McNally 57mins, Mark Newman for L Flynn 60mins.
Round Towers
James Robinson; Mikey Kelly, Michael Joyce, Davy O’Neill; Niall Fleming, Mark Scanlon, Stephen Comerford; Mark Waters, Jamie Flynn; Evan Flynn, Matthew Kelly, Cathal Daffy; Jason O’Brien, Neil Scanlon, Mark Byrne.
Subs used: James Dunne for M Scanlon 42mins, DJ Flynn for E Flynn 51mins, Stuart Murphy for N Scanlon 57mins.
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