A League Division 1 Donaghmore/Ashbourne v Skryne

Donaghmore/Ashbourne  1-9, Skryne 2-9.

            Donaghmore/Ashbourne’s six-game undefeated run in the A League, Division 1, was brought to an end by a Skryne team who recorded only their third win of the campaign. Donaghmore/Ashbourne seem to be developing a habit of being slow out of the blocks, and this was evident again last night. Skryne led by eight points at half time, and despite a spirited fight-back Donaghmore/Ashbourne lost by three points in the end.

            Andrew Tormey missed an opportunity to open the scoring from a second-minute free kick. Tony Morgan won a good ball in midfield, sent a superb pass to Kevin Lanigan who slotted over a delightful left-footed score. Then a shocking mix-up in defence let Skryne pounce for their first goal in the fifth minute. In the next quarter  Skryne ran the Donaghmore/Ashbourne defence ragged and they had stretched their lead to seven points with three well-taken points from play and two James Hegarty frees. Kevin Lanigan with his second point and Ciarán Ellis with an excellent score after a fine solo run, reduced the margin to five. Disaster struck Donaghmore/Ashbourne again when slack defending allowed Skryne cut through for their second goal of the game. Sean Harmon replaced Michael Roche on the thirty minute mark. Points from Mattie Devine and Andrew Tormey from a free were matched by two further points from Skryne to send Donaghmore/Ashbourne in at half-time trailing by eight points.

            Ian Dowd opened the scoring for Donaghmore/Ashbourne in the second half and Andrew Tormey converted another free. Then Ciaran Ellis picked up the ball in midfield, made a short solo run and sent a superb pass in to David Morgan who blasted the ball past Paddy O’Rourke into the Skryne net. This left just three points between the teams, and when David Morgan pointed a free from the right Donaghmore/Ashbourne  were only two points in arrears with quarter of an hour to play. There followed a long period of play when neither side could record a score.  Skryne’s victory was ensured when they recorded the next two points with Donaghmore/Ashbourne’s sole reply coming from the boot of Eoin Reilly. Leon Tormey replaced Mattie Devine and his first action was to send a quick free to Tony Morgan who found Ciaran Ellis on the edge of the square. Unfortunately for Donaghmore/Ashbourne his goal attempt found only the side netting. A last ditch attempt from Eoin Reilly was saved under his crossbar by Paddy O’Rourke and Skryne were able to celebrate their victory.

            Despite this defeat, Donaghmore/Ashbourne still sit atop the table with twelve points from seven games played, and surely must be favourites to make the knockout stages of the league.

Danny Mc Shane; Michael Roche, Cormac Mc Gill, Sean Curran; Ciarán Ellis, Martin Lynch, Tadhgh Murphy; Rory O’Connor, Ian Dowd; Kevin Lanigan (0-2), Tony Morgan, Eoin Reilly (0-1); David Morgan (1-1, 0-1 f), Andrew Tormey (0-1 f), Mattie Devine (0-1).

Subs: Sean Harmon for Michael Roche 30 min, Leon Tormey for Mattie Devine 55min.