London senior football championship semi final
London senior football championship semi final
October 09, 2017
London senior football championship semi final
Fulham Irish vs Round Towers Mc Govern Park Ruislip 08/10/2017
Fulham Irish 0-17
Round towers 2-6
The second of the Senior Football Championship games pitted a Fulham Irish side against a Round Towers side in a highly anticipated encounter. Round Towers would have had high hopes following their comprehensive win over Parnells in the previous round, although they had to be underdogs in many people’s eyes against a Fulham irish side which have had a strong championship to date with three wins and looked impressive in all games.
Towers got off to the ideal start with a point inside the first minute, the early exchanges of the game was scrappy, with unforced errors from both sides and defences on top. Both sides were finding it difficult to gain any momentum in the game and it took all of 10 mins for Fulham to register their first score. It was evident that both teams set up with a defensive systems, which led to both sides shooting from distance to beat the sweeper system but a mixture of poor shot selection led to a high wide count. In the 15th minute Fulham took the lead with a well worked team score, two further unanswered points followed which after 25 mins left three between the sides in favour of Fulham. Towers responded with their first score in over 20 mins with, a badly needed point on the 26 minute which kept two between the sides. Then in the final five minutes of the first half Fulham enjoyed a purple patch, in which they kicked a further three unanswered points which left 5 points between the sides and at halftime the score between the sides were 0-7 points to 0-2 in favour of the Fulham side.
The game opened up at the start of the second half with Fulham continuing on their strong finish to first, with the opening two points and after 40 minutes the gap between the sides was seven with Fulham leading 0-9 points to 0-2. The pressure and intensity from Fulham in overturning possession was evident and a noteworthy aspect of their performance. In the 37th minute, Towers got a much needed point to close the gap between the sides to six. The sides then exchanged points which kept the gap at six in favour of Fulham. The next 5 mins elapsed with 3 points from Fulham, in another strong spell. Towers poured players forward, leaving space at the back which Fulham exploited as Towers abandoned their defensive system and after 46 mins the score between the sides was 0-13 to 0-4. To their credit, Towers never stopped and after a well worked point, there persistence was followed with a goal which galvanised the team. They kicked a further point and the game as a contest wasn’t over yet as Towers closed the gap to 4 points. After 48mins the score between the sides was 0-13 to 1-6. Fulham registered a much needed point on the 51st minute and brought the gap to five but in the 54th minute, a long ball into the crowded square resulted in a goal for Towers despite the Fulham players protests of square ball. The referee communicated with his umpires and the goal stood so we were in for a grandstand finish with two points between the sides and 6 mins left.
Unfortunately for Towers, they couldn’t carry the momentum and despite the black card to Fulham star Owen Mulligan, Fulham showed their experience by kicking the final three points of the game. They kept possession, working their towers opposition around and creating gaps. Towers had no answer and despite the second goal, they couldn’t kick on. The game finished with Fulham coming out with a deserved five point victory on a scoreline of 0-17 points to 2-6. The reward for Fulham is a Final versus Tir Chonaill Gaels in two weeks in a highly anticipated Final in the home of football Mc Govern Park Ruislip.