Division 1A League

Sunday 28th February 2010

Venue: Ashbourne

Full Time: Donaghmore Ashbourne 3-07 Blackhall Gaels 0-09
Half Time: Donaghmore Ashbourne 1-06 Blackhall Gaels 0-06

Donaghmore Ashbourne maintained their winning start to the 2010 league campaign with a deserved home win over Blackhall Gaels in Ashbourne on Sunday. The home side were deserving of the victory although there are still some areas for improvement.
Blackhall Gaels opened the scoring in the first minute with a point with Andrew Tormey bringing the sides level after a good team score on 3 minutes. The visitors regained the lead on 6 minutes when they pointed from close range after cutting through the home defence. The sides were level on 8 minutes when Niall Farrell pointed on 8 minutes from 40 meters to finish a move that started in the full back line.
The home side had a good period of dominance and took the lead with points from Niall Farrell on 10 minutes, an Andrew Tormey free on 11 minutes and an Eoin Reilly long range point on 19 minutes.
Heading towards the break Blackhall Gaels brought the sides level with three unanswered points on 25, 27 and 28 minutes.  As the first half drew to a close a qick free from Eoin Reilly found David Morgan on the edge of the square and shook off the full back to fire low into the net. In injury time both sides trades points from frees with Eoighan Riordan pointing from an acute angle to leave the goal between the sides.
The second half was open affair with the visitors first to score from a line ball on 32 minutes.  Tony Morgan kept the gap between the sides when he pointed on 37 minutes following an intercepted pass in the visitors defence.
Another defensive lapse by the visitors a minute later resulted in Donaghmore Ashbourne turning over possession and with a number of quick moves Eoin Reilly has an easy tap in to find the open net and put daylight between the teams.  The home side registered a third goal on 39 minutes when corner back Sean Curran was on the end of a good team move to fire home from close range and end the game as a contest.
Apart from a Blackhall Gaels point on 41 minutes and an injury time free from the visitors the final quarter was a low scoring affair with the home side registering 6 wides in this period.
Overall it was a good team performance from Donaghmore Ashbourne and a valuable 2 points for the home side but in a tighter game they will need to finish stronger than on this occasion.