JFC B: Donaghmore Ashbourne push St. Marys
August 16, 2014
The Donaghmore Ashbourne squad for the clash with St Mary's
St. Mary's 0-16
Despite having little chance of qualification to the group stages Donaghmore Ashbourne's 3rd string side pushed St. Mary's team all the way in this final round Junior B game in Seneschalstown on Saturday.
Fielding a much different side that the earlier games in the competition as a number of players were unavailable the Donaghmore Ashbourne lads gave a spirited performance and had the Donore men pushed to their collar in the first half with only a point between the sides.
The opening half points came from Anthony Mc Elearney, Eoin Caffrey and a brace of points from Faolan Smith. Cian Wall scored an excellent goal when Smith played a super ball over the Mary's defence and as Wall found himself in a one on one with the keeper he showed a great sense of maturity for a minor footballer to flick to ball over the advancing keeper into the empty net. In fairness to Donaghmore Ashbourne they did have a couple of other goal chances in this half but failed to find the net.
With the aid of the slight breeze in the second half Donaghmore Ashbourne registered two early points from Joe Merry and Smith and looked to have an upset on the cards. However the more experienced St. Marys team began to take control in the middle of the field and slowly pull away from Donaghmore Ashbourne. Donaghmore Ashbourne missed a number of scoring opportunities before their final score came on 52 minutes from the boot of Smith. They also had a penalty kick saved late on, that although this score may not have altered the overall result it would have shown a truer reflection of the game on the scoreboard.
Although not winning the game a number of younger Donaghmore Ashbourne players making their debut in adult football together with others stepping up to the Junior B grade showed that they are more than comfortable in this grade of the competition which is good for the future of the club.
Donaghmore Ashbourne: C. Field; D. Byrne, P. Warren, J. McKeown; R. O'Donnell, C. Byrne, M. Mc Cabe; T. Dreaper, T. Bruton; F. Smith(0-4) (1f), J. Touhy, C. Wall (1-0); E. Caffrey (0-1), J. Merry (0-1), A. McElearney (0-1). Subs: A. Kavanagh for Merry, S. Benville for Bruton, D. Kelly for O'Donnell, N Kavanagh for Mc Cabe K Fitzsimons for Caffrey. Tweet
