2010 Senior Football Championship

Date: Sunday 18th April 2010

Venue: Dunshaughlin

Full Time: Donaghmore Ashbourne 2-08 Summerhill 0-17
Half Time: Donaghmore Ashbourne 0-03 Summerhill 0-11

Although Donaghmore Ashbourne showed great improvement in their recent league form the old  weak point of not taking all their opportunities came back to haunt them in the opening round of 2010 Meath Senior Championship against Summerhill in Dunshaughlin.
The Donaghmore Ashbourne lads failed to convert a large majority of their first half attempts and trailed at the break by 0-11 to 0-03.
Summerhill started the brightest of the two teams and led with two frees in the 1st and 4th minutes.
Andrew Tormey replied with Donaghmore Ashbourne’s opening score on 6 minutes. Summerhill extended their lead with three unanswered points on 6, 7 and 9 minutes respectfully before Eoin Reilly pointed in the 10th minute.
The second quarter of the game was evenly contested but Donaghmore Ashbourne’s inability to convert their scores together with Summerhill higher efficiency at the opposite end was the difference between the teams.
Summerhill managed to register 5 unanswered points while Donaghmore Ashbourne failed to score from their 7 attempts in this period. The teams did trade points late in the half with David Morgan points from 20 meters after an Eoin Reilly attempt came back off the post.
Having managed to regroup at the interval Donaghmore Ashbourne had a much better second period in the game and with the midfield pairing of Bryan Menton and Rory O’Connor being to get the better of the opposition they began to at into the Summerhill lead.
Niall Farrell pointed for Donaghmore Ashbourne within a minute of the restart to indicate their intentions for the half. Minutes later Farrell collect a high ball at the end of the square and a he headed for goal he was brought down and Andrew Tormey fired the resulting penalty into the corner of the net. Eoighan Riordan reduced the deficit to 3 points on 33 minutes with a well taken point.
All the hard work looked to be undone on 35 minutes when Danny Mc Shane collected a high ball but lost possession and took down the Summerhill forward to see a penalty awarded. However he made amends for his mistake by turning the resulting kick around the corner for a 45.
Summerhill extended their lead to 4 points on 42 minutes with a point but Donaghmore Ashbourne’s reply was instant as Rory Maguire pointed within a minute of the kick out.
Donaghmore Ashbourne managed to reduce the deficit to just two points when Riordan pointed from a free on 52 minutes going into the closing stages of the game.
However the experienced Summerhill side gave themselves a cushion with four unanswered points in consecutive minutes from the 53rd to the 56th minute.
The sides traded points late in normal time with Donaghmore Ashbourne’s point coming from and Andrew Tormey free on 57 minutes. David Morgan had the final say of the game when he found the back of the net late in injury time.
Considering the league form to date and the fact that Donaghmore Ashbourne only managed to score from 10 of their 25 attempts it was a disappointing start to the championship campaign. Next up is Duleek/Bellewstown in a must win game if they are to progress from this five team group.

Donaghmore Ashbourne: D. Mc Shane; M. Roche, C. Mc Gill, S. Curran; C. Ellis, C. O’Mealoid, T. Kelly; B. Menton, R. O’Connor, E. Riordan(0-2), E. Reilly(0-1), A, Tormey(1-2); D. Morgan(1-1), R. Maguire(0-1), N, Farrell (0-1)