Plenty of apples in the basket
December 31, 2002
Donaghmore/Ashbourne GAA Club certainly aren't lacking in ambition and plan to tap into the potential that a rapidly growing population offers in their area.
A drive through the town demonstrates the extent to which Ashbourne has expanded dramatically in the last few years, thanks largely to its very close proximity to Dublin, and it now has the largest population in the county outside Navan.
It has attracted residents from practically every part of Ireland and in order for the club to take full advantage of that growth in population they realise they must plan ahead.
Accordingly, they have ambitious plans to develop 18 acres of land in Ashbourne as part of the Development Plan, which, if everything works out the way they hope, will result in the club locating exclusively in the town, rather than having playing bases scattered around in a number of different locations.
At the moment Donaghmore/Ashbourne have four pitches in use, with The Wootton outside the town and the Community School catering for adult sides and St. Declan's and Milltown being used to look after the needs of the many juvenile teams catered for in the club. The facilities at the Community School are used by the school during school hours, but various other sporting organisations, the GAA club among them, have access to them after that.
The idea behind Donaghmore/Ashbourne's ambitious plan is to bring the club back to the population base, which makes plenty of sense given the number of new houses being built in the town, and the planned facility envisages four playing pitches and other impressive facilities to go with them.
With so many new families moving into the area, the club has placed particular emphasis on encouraging as many new residents as possible to send their children along and get involved with the club's activities themselves. Of course, that is to the benefit of the club, but it also gives the newcomers to Ashbourne the opportunity to meet new people and form friendships in their new community.
This is where the highly successful street leagues organised by the club play a very significant part, helping particularly to establish the club in Ashbourne. Approximately 200 children compete in the football leagues and 80 in hurling and it all culminates in a final day at The Wootton which goes down very well with all involved. Meath star Paddy Reynolds was the special guest this year and his county colleague Trevor Giles did the honours in 2001, with both players proving highly popular among the youngsters.
Donaghmore/Ashbourne is certainly one of the most active clubs in the county, fielding no fewer than 27 teams in football (male and female), hurling and camogie.
That figure includes a large number of under-age sides, some of which line out in the North Dublin competitions. So, with that amount of youngsters wanting to play Gaelic games in the area, it's easy to see why the club is looking to the future and determined to tap into the growing numbers on their doorstep.
On the playing field in 2002, Donaghmore/ Ashbourne finished with a mixed bag of results in the Intermediate Football Championship where they were drawn in a very tough group B. The section also included former senior giants Navan O'Mahonys, who were desperate to bounce back up at the first attempt after their shock demotion, other recent senior clubs in Syddan and Moynalvey, the beaten intermediate finalists of the past two years Ballivor, as well as St. Ultan's, Na Fianna and Drumree.
It was certainly the sort of demanding division where a team would need to be firing on all cylinders on a consistent basis to have a realistic chance of making further progress.
The team, managed by Conor Tormey and with an average age of about 25, achieved two victories and one draw and were beaten four times, which effectively ruled out any chance of reaching the knock-out stages.
The victories were gained against Moynalvey and St. Ultan's, they held Drumree to a draw, but defeats were suffered against Ballivor, unfortunately by all of 19 points, to O'Mahonys and Syddan by just two and by a single point against Na Fianna. Despite that heavy defeat to Ballivor, the closeness of a few of those losses should give them some hope for next season.
While Donaghmore/ Ashbourne held onto their intermediate champ-ionship status, the situation wasn't so good among the big boys in Div. 1 of the All-County 'A' Football League from where they were relegated at the end of their first season in the division as they finished with only three points.
Those points were achieved thanks to a win in the opening round against senior side Kilmainhamwood, which provided the perfect start to the league campaign and appeared to offer great hope, and a draw with another senior club, Ballinlough. However, they found the going tough overall and their demotion was confirmed when they lost by six points (2-10 to 0-10) to O'Mahonys at Brews Hill, rendering their final match against Dunboyne meaningless.
Donaghmore/Ashbourne received a walkover from Drumconrath in their scheduled Feis Cup match and then faced a very stiff challenge against the senior champions of the past two years, Dunshaughlin, a game they lost by 5-14 to 2-9.
Obviously, with the Ashbourne area developing so rapidly and with such ambitious plans for the future, Donaghmore/Ashbourne would dearly love to win an intermediate championship in the near future and become a senior club. That would provide a tremendous boost, but for the moment at least it remains a dream.
The club also endured mixed fortunes on the hurling field, with their two victories in the intermediate championship being achieved against Killyon and Trim. They drew with both Wolfe Tones and Na Fianna, but defeats against Kilskyre, Drumree and Gaeil Colmcille put paid to their chances of making further progress in a competition the club must surely feel they are capable of winning in the near future. This team was managed by Owen Flanagan.
The club's Junior C football team enjoyed a useful run in the championship before being eliminated by Dunshaughlin in a preliminary quarter-final. Teams were also fielded in both Div. 3 and Div. 6 of the All-County 'B' League.
At underage level the under-13 hurling team won the Meath 'B' Championship, defeating Boardsmill by 1-4 to 0-4 in the final at Kilmessan, while the girls did the club proud in the Feile na nGael finals in Carlow, going all the way to the decider where they were beaten by a strong Broadford side from Limerick. It was certainly a showing that augurs well for the future and the whole experience will benefit the panel.
SCOR SUCCESS
For the second successive year, Donaghmore/Ashbourne brought All-Ireland glory to the county by winning a national Scor title.
PJ Moran, who is coach to the club's intermediate football team, demonstrated that he possesses other skills too when he triumphed in the senior section of the story telling. This added to the win achieved in 2001 when the instrumental group brought national success to their club and county.
How encouraging it is to see that Donaghmore/Ashbourne appreciate just how important the Scor competitions are to the GAA in terms of an extra outlet. Long may it continue.
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