Donaghmore Ashbourne 1-07
St. Pauls 2-13
Despite putting up a great spirited performance Donaghmore Ashbourne's third string team lost out to a more experienced St. Paul's outfit when the sides met in their Junior B round 2 encounter in Kilbride on Sunday morning. While the score board shows a big gulf in class between the teams this didn't accurately reflect how close the encounter was as Donaghmore Ashbourne made St. Pauls work hard for their victory.
The opening quarter was a close affair with Donaghmore Ashbourne registering two early wides before former Meath star Anthony Moyles hit the opening point for St. Paul's on 5 minutes. Conor McGovern brought the sides level with a free on 7 minutes. St. Paul's edged in front again at the end of the first quarter with unanswered points on 9 and 14 minutes.
The second half saw St. Paul's take a bit of a grip in the game and during this period they hit a further four unanswered points before Mc Govern pointed for Donaghmore Ashbourne from a free on 26 minutes. Substitute Faolan Smyth reduced the deficit with a point on 29 minutes but with St. Paul's getting the final score of the half they entered the interval 0-08 to 0-03 ahead.
St. Paul's increased their lead after the interval with points on 31 and 38 minutes with Jack Touhy replying for the Moors with a converted 45 on 44 minutes.
The final quarter saw Donaghmore Ashbourne chase the game and try and reel in St. Paul's but the experienced side managed to utilise the space better and rack up a number of counter attack scores to widen the gap. St. Paul's points on 45 and 46 minutes were replied with a great goal from Jack Touhy on 49 minutes. Smyth reduced the deficit further with a Donaghmore Ashbourne point from a free on 51 minutes.
The closing minutes of the game saw St. Paul's put a gloss on the score board with two late goals, one on 55 minutes and one in injury time. At the other end Donaghmore Ashbourne could only manage three pointed frees, one from Mc Govern on 58 minutes and two injury time points from Smyth.
Overall it was an entertaining game but Donaghmore Ashbourne will rue the amount of unforced errors in the game and know that that they should have been closer at the final whistle. For St. Paul's former Meath star Anthony Moyles still showed his class in controlling the game throughout the hour. While Donaghmore Ashbourne competed well there were notable contributions from Mattie Davis in goals who pull off a number of great saves and defenders Mattie Finn and Michael Mc Cabe who were also solid.
Donaghmore Ashbourne: M. Davis; M. Finn, N. Moran, R. Lawlor; M. Mc Cabe, J. Long, G. Sweeney: T. Dreaper, J. Dwyer; L. Nolan, C. Mc Govern (0-3), J. Merry; J.M Keown, J. Touhy (1-1), K. Fitzsimons. Subs: F. Smyth (0-3) for Dwyer (inj), A. Kavanagh for Fitzsimons, E. Caffrey for Merry, A. Brady for Dreaper, L. Finn for Touhy
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