Tower’s hurlers bag first league win against Setanta

ROUND Towers Clondalkin’s Hurling side recorded their first win in the AHL Division 3 at the weekend after a dominant scoreline against Setanta GAA winning 5-12 to 0-08 at Monastery Road.

The win was welcomed after the club had suffered a significant defeat to Cuala in the opening game of the campaign.

Playing against the breeze in the first half and put on the backfoot by Setanta, Towers did well to score two goals courtesy of Alex O’Neill and Eric Finn which put them in a great position to see out the game.

Their bench also played a key role in the game with talent such as Sam Mulvaney and Daithi Billings coming on in the second half of the match and playing a key role for the side.

The key man throughout the game for the team however was Stephen Barry who put in an excellent performance at wing back, playing a key role in progressing the ball, breaking down attacks and kickstarting his own as well as getting his name on the scoresheet courtesy of an excellent score himself.

The squad depth available to manager Conan O Brion this year means that Towers are able to compete across multiple competitions with the side currently also playing in the Leinster League in Division 4.

They recently won against Laois side Slieve Bloom GAA in a match played at Airlie Park while they take on Confey GAA from Leixlip this weekend with the AHL not back in action until the week after.

Towers have also benefited from boosting their coaching staff with former Dublin intercounty player Ryan O’Dwyer now involved with the side.

O’Brion touched on the inclusion of O’Dwyer into the coaching set up.

“He’s an outstanding coach. The lads have responded really well to him. His standard is really high and you can just see it in training. It’s brilliant to have him on board. He’s played at the highest level and the lads are learning a lot from him because of that.”

O’Brion spoke on participating in multiple league competitions simultaneously.

“Having that extra depth allows us to enter competitions like this during football weekends given how big our panel is now. After the group stage there will be a quarter final so we’ll see how we go with that. We’re taking it one game at a time but it’s a great competition to be able to play. Especially to look at some of the lads who maybe weren’t getting as much time, this gets them in and gets them game time and makes a big difference.”