Flanagan confident Towers can stand tall
By Stephen Leonard
NEW ROUND Tower senior football team manager Damian Flanagan believes his side have the ambition to fulfil their goal of making the AFL Division Two play-offs this season.
The former Fingal Ravens player joined the club late last year after having managed St Mark’s last season in Division Three and is hoping to build on a solid showing in 2017 that saw the Clondalkin side just miss out on the play-offs.
He brings a wealth of experience to the post having played with the Dublin Junior team and made the inter-county Under 21 panel while also helping Fingal to the All-Ireland Intermediate Club Championship Final in 2008 when they lost to Moycullen.
And he has been very impressed by what he has seen at Monastery Road saying, “We’re back training since the 7th of January and I find there’s a very positive vibe there.
“We’re getting good numbers down at training both with the senior and junior team so that bodes well for the coming season.
“The aim is to finish as high in the table as we possibly can and making the play-offs would be a bonus.
“They’re a very ambitious bunch of lads and they want to get the best out of themselves.
“We have our targets, but there have been changes with a few of the lads retiring from the Towers panel who have been there over the years with a number of young lads coming through.
“And there have also been changes throughout the league with new managers who, themselves, will be looking to make changes,” he added.
With a bigger pool of players to draw on than he would have had at his previous club, Flanagan is hoping his side can finish in the top four and get a good run in the championship.
“It was one of the main reasons why I chose to move,” he told Echo.ie
“The two panels [football and hurling] are split with just two or three or maybe four duel players, so you know what you’re working with most of the time,” he explained.
The team faces a challenging start to the league campaign on Sunday, February 18 when they travel to Na Fianna.
“It’s going to be a tough match,” warned Flanagan. “Na Fianna won the Under 21 Championship and the Minor Championship so they have a lot of young players coming through,” he pointed out.
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