JFC B: Donaghmore Ashbourne give St. Vincent's a scare
May 25, 2015
Donaghmore ashbourne's third string were unlucky
Donaghmore Ashbourne 1-09
St. Vincent's 2-09
With two rounds of the Junior B championship under their belts St. Vincent's who were top of the group B table would have expected an easy enough and comfortable winning margin against Donaghmore Ashbourne 3rd string side when the sides met in Curraha on Saturday evening.
Donaghmore Ashbourne who were bottom of the table and suffered two heavy defeats threw the form book out the window and made the Ardcath men work right to the final whistle in a very closely contested game. With a bit of luck Donaghmore Ashbourne could have claimed their first victory and while they showed a vast improvement on earlier outings they were disappointed not to take something from the game.
Playing with the aid of the hill in the opening period St Vincent's opened the scoring with a free on 4 minutes. Jamie Dwyer replied for Donaghmore Ashbourne with a point from play on 10 minutes. While the Ardcath men tried to make best use of their advantage the Donaghmore Ashbourne side worked hard and with full back line in fine form they defended well for the most of the opening half. St. Vincent's did raise the white flag on 17 minutes with a point from play and on 19 minutes with a point from a free.
At the other end Donaghmore Ashbourne did register a couple of wides and saw a number of attacks break down with passing going astray in the final third of the field. The final score of the first half saw St. Vincent's fire to the back of the net on 21 minutes to enter the interval with a 1-03 to 0-01 advantage.
With the aid of the hill in the second half Donaghmore Ashbourne threw everything at the St. Vincent's team and Faolan Smith set the tone with a point from play within seconds of the restart. Colin Sullivan reduced the deficit to a goal a minute later when he converted a free from 20 meters out. By the 34th minute a long ball from Faolan Smith found Jack Touhy at the edge of the square and he shook off the tackle to fire to the net and bring the sides level.
St Vincent's regained the lead with a point from play on 36 minutes but another Smith free a minute later brought the sides level again. An upset looked to be on the cards when Smith registered an outstanding point from a sideline kick straight over the bar on 38 minutes to take the lead for the first time in the game.
Unfortunately for Donaghmore Ashbourne this score seemed to kick the Ardcath men into another gear and they replied with unanswered points on 39, 41, 44 and 47 minutes to regain their 3 point lead. They could have doubled this lead on 38 minutes but Mattie Davis pulled off a fine save at the expense of a 45. St Vincent's pushed their lead out to 4 points with a free on 50 minutes and put further daylight between the sides when they found the back of the Donaghmore Ashbourne net from the resulting kick out.
However despite this set back Donaghmore Ashbourne did not throw in the towel and finished strong. Michael Mc Cabe collected a quick free and pointed from the left hand side on 53 minutes. Ciaran Byrne raised the white flag on 55 minutes with a point from play. Colin Sullivan and Conor Mc Govern also pointed from play in the closing minutes to leave only a goal between the sides. Although Donaghmore Ashbourne chased the equalizing score the St. Vincent's side held out and were relieved to hear the final whistle.
Overall it was a much improved performance from Donaghmore Ashbourne with notable contributions from Mattie Davis who pulled off a few fine saves and the full back line who were solid especially in the opening period. Joey Long gave a sterling performance at centre half back while Faolan Smith's sideline point was the highlight of the scores for the evening. In truth all of Donaghmore Ashbourne deserve credit for their effort on the night.
Donaghmore Ashbourne: M. Davis; R. Lawlor, M. Finn, G. Sweeney; M. Mc Cabe (0-1), J. Long, C. Mc Govern (0-1); C. Byrne (0-1), J. Dwyer (0-1); C. Sullivan (0-2) (1f), F Smith (0-3) (2f), J. Mc Keown, L. Nolan, J. Touhy (1-0), E. Caffrey. Subs: T. Bruton for Caffrey, A. Brady for Nolan.
St Vincents: Conner White, Kieran Brangan, Davy Tallon, Kieran Sheridan, Mark Crawley, Stephen Creed, Kieran Hand, Maurice Carberry, Barry O Sullivan, Robbie Lynch 0-1, Shane O Brian1-1, Niall Tallon, Richie O Sullivan 0-5, Kieran Collins 1-1. Subs: Paddy Arnold 0-1, Sean Moore, Ryan Hand, Enda Murphy.
