Whitehall and Round Towers Lusk primed for SFC2 final

The Dublin SFC2 final opponents, Whitehall Colmcille and Round Towers of Lusk, reached the decider after contrasting semi-final victories last weekend, they face each other in Sunday's final in Parnell Park (2.0).

This clash should provide a very exciting curtain-raiser to the Dublin SFC1 final between Ballyboden St Enda's and Thomas Davis (4.0).

Whitehall and Towers sides are familiar with each other having pitted their wits against each other in both AFL2 this season and also during the SFC2 Group stages.

In AFL2 action the Lusk outfit won seven, drew two and lost six of their regulation cames to currently sit in joint sixth position slightly ahead of Whitehall Colmcille, in joint eighth, after recording six victories, two draws and seven defeats.

They met each other at the start of their AFL2 campaigns back in mid-February when Round Towers prevailed 2-11 to 0-8 at home.

When they collided in SFC Group 3 the Lusk men also won when edging out their fellow finalists 1-14 to 0-14 in Lawless Park, Swords in late April .

Whitehall Colmcille booked their berth in the Dublin SFC2 decider after comfortably overcoming Templeogue Synge St 1-16 to 0-6 in their semi-final at O’Toole Park.

Whitehall started very impressively and after just 13 minutes were 1-6 to 0-1 clear, Synger never recovered. Dublin senior Cormac Costello led by example and scored 1-4 inside that opening dominant spell for the northsiders.

His goal came in the eighth minute when he applied the final touch from close range but he highlighted the full range of his powers in the opening spell by kicking a point from play off either foot, converted a free and a sideline to go with his goal.

The O’Donnell brothers Eoghan, at full-back, Niall and Enda did well for Colmcille as did Lee Gannon and by the break they led 1-10 to 0-3.

Niall Scully opened the scoring to the second period but there was no way back into contention for Synge Street.

In the second semi-final Round Towers, Lusk defeated Cuala, who lined out without the injured Con O'Callaghan, 1-13 to 0-15, after extra-time in O'Toole Park with Darragh Kelly getting the game's only goal.

Cormac Howley scored 0-6 (0-2f) and Liam Bohan hit 0-4 (0-1f, 0-1 '45') for Lusk with Jamie Keenan scoring 0-7 for Cuala.

Lusk defender, former Dublin minor (2016) and U21 (2017) Aaron Duffy, had an eventful day. After helping his side to victory after extra-time in O'Toole Park he travelled to Castlebar and came on as a second half sub for The Underdogs in their encounter with Mayo in MacHale Park which the Connacht county won 3-11 to 0-8.

Whitehall Colmcille are making something of a habit of starting their games by bolting out of the blocks.

In their SFC2 quarter-final they hit the ground running when scoring three goals inside the opening 15 minutes on their way to defeating Fingal Ravens 5-13 to 0-14 with Dublin footballer Cormac Costello and Dublin hurler Eoghan O'Donnell once again to the fore.

Whitehall finished second in Group 3, behind Round Tower Lusk, after losing to Lusk but recording victories over both Nh Olaf and St Pat's, Palmerstown.

Colmcille's victory over Olaf's came in their opening SFC2 Group 3 clash - it was a terrific contest.

Cormac Costello tallied 1-8 (0-6f) as Whitehall Colmcille's defeated Nh Olaf 2-13 to 1-13 in a frenetic battle.

Playing into the strong wind it was Olaf's who made the better start and two points in-a-row, including one free, from Tom Keane had the Sandyford side 0-4 to 0-1 ahead inside ten minutes.

But Whitehall eventually settled with points from John Bridgeman, Eoghan O'Donnell, a superb Costello effort from 35 metres with the outside of his right boot, a second Bridgeman score before Keith Campbell's effort propelled the northsiders into a 0-6 to 0-4 lead after 20 minutes.

By the interval the sides were level, 0-8 each, with wind advantage to come for Olaf's.

Costello converted two frees early in the second half before his side struck for their first goal when the Dublin forward sent in an inviting curling free to the danger area from where Lee Gannon got the vital flick on to send the ball to the net.

Olaf's response was immediate and clinical when Tom Keane kept the ball on the deck to beat one defender before sliding the ball low to the net to reduce the deficit to one point, 1-10 to 1-9, with 20 minutes remaining.

The advantage swung back to Whitehall when Costello raced through on goal to fist a point and followed up two minutes late with a goal to push his side 2-11 to 1-9 clear.

Olaf's battled to the finish and squandered a few point-scoring opportunities in their quest for goal as Tom Keane, who tallied 1-5 (0-2f) in total, added two points from play while Costello was on the mark with a brace of frees to see his side to victory.

The Lusk men, who topped Group 3 with a 100 per record, overcame St Mary's, Saggart 1-19 to 2-10 in their quarter-final with Cormac Howley tallying 0-9 and freetaker Liam Bohan hitting 0-8.

Kyle Connell got Tower's only goal while Aaron Duffy did well in defence.

Round Towers Lusk have been climbing up the ranks of Dublin football with great pace in recent years.

Last year they were crowned Dublin intermediate football champions for the first time when they defeated Nh Barróg, 1-18 to 0-15, after extra-time in a pulsating final at Parnell Park.

Towers then progressed to the Leinster IFC as Dublin representatives but were beaten first game out when Two Mile House (Kildare) overcame them 4-15 to 1-6 in their provincial quarter-final at St Conleth’s Park, Newbridge.

As recently as 2015 the Lusk club captured Dublin JFC 'A' honours when they proved too strong for Raheny when winning 4-10 to 1-12 in the county decider at Parnell Park.

2019 DUBLIN SFC2

SEMI-FINALS

26 October O'Toole Park Whitehall Colmcille 1-16 Templeogue Synge St 0-5

26 October O'Toole Park Round Towers, Lusk 1-13 Cuala 0-15 (After extra-time)

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QUARTER-FINALS

13 October O'Toole Park Templeogue Synge Street 5-10 St Maur's 3-8
13 October O'Toole Park Cuala 4-11 Naomh Mearnóg 1-10
12 October O'Toole Park Round Towers, Lusk 1-19 St Mary's, Saggart 2-10
12 October O'Toole Park Whitehall Colmcille 5-13 Fingal Ravens 0-14

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ROUND-ROBIN GROUP STAGE
SFC2 GROUP 1: (1) Cuala 6pts, +17 scoring difference; (2) Nh Maur (4, +12); (3) Fingallians (2, -8); (4) Round Tower, Clondalkin (0, -21)
28 September Bohernabreena Cuala 1-16 Round Tower Clondalkin 1-13
26 September Donabate St Maur's 4-11 Fingallians 0-16
24 April Parnell Park Cuala 2-10 Nh Maur 1-12
24 April Parnell Park Fingallians 1-17 Round Tower, Clondalkin 0-8
14 April O'Toole Park Cuala 2-16 Fingallians 0-9
11 April Balgriffin Nh Maur 1-16 Round Tower, Clondalkin 1-10

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SFC2 GROUP 2: (1) Templeogue Synge St 6pts, +20 scoring difference; (2) Nh Mearnóg (4, +11); (3) St Anne's (2, -9); (4) Erin's Isle (0, -22)
27 September Balgriffin Templeogue Synge 1-16 St Erin's Isle 0-12
26 September St Margaret's Nh Mearnóg 2-12 St Anne's 1-8
26 April Balgriffin Nh Mearnóg 0-16 Erin's Isle 0-7
26 April O'Toole Park Templeogue Synge St 3-11 St Anne's 0-12
13 April Blakestown St Anne's 0-17 Erin's Isle 1-8
13 April Balgriffin Templeogue Synge St 0-13 Nh Mearnóg 0-8

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SFC2 GROUP 3: (1) Round Towers, Lusk 6pts, +37 scoring difference; (2) Whitehall Colmcille (4, +24); (3) Nh Olaf (2, -10); (4) St Pat's, Palmerstown (0, -51)
28 September Balgriffin Round Towers Lusk 3-17 Nh Olaf 0-16
28 September Garristown St Patrick's Palmerstown 0-10 Whitehall Colmcille 4-22
25 April Lawless Park Round Towers, Lusk 1-14 Whitehall Colmcille 0-14
25 April O'Toole Park Nh Olaf 0-13 St Pat's, Palmerstown 1-7
14 April O'Toole Park Whitehall Colmcille 2-13 Nh Olaf 1-13
13 April St Margaret's Round Towers, Lusk 4-18 St Pat's, Palmerstown 0-6

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SFC2 GROUP 4: (1) St Mary's, Saggart 4pts, +13 scoring difference; (2) Fingal Ravens (4, +6); (3) St Peregrine's (2, -9); (4) Parnell's (2, -10)
27 September Lawless Park Parnell's 2-12 Fingal Ravens 2-7
27 September Seán Moore Park St Mary's Saggart 1-12 St Peregrine's 0-9
26 April Russell Park Fingal Ravens 1-9 St Mary's, Saggart 0-10
26 April St Margaret's St Peregrine's 3-13 Parnell's 2-10
11 April Parnell Park St Mary's, Saggart 1-15 Parnell's 1-6
11 April St Margaret's Fingal Ravens 2-12 St Peregrine's 0-9