Senior Championship
Donaghmore / Ashbourne vs Seneschalstown
Venue:  Pairc Tailteann
Date:  07 August 2011
Time:  2:00 PM
Donaghmore Ashbourne faced favourites Seneschalstown in a win or bust Senior Football Championship match in Páirc Tailteann on Sunday. In a tense, hard-fought encounter Donaghmore Ashbourne emerged victorious on a score line of 1-13 to 0-13. They fully deserved their victory as their second-half performance turned a two point deficit into a three point winning margin. Indeed the margin might have been greater if Donaghmore Ashbourne had converted several goal chances, including a missed penalty.

Seneschalstown were first out of the blocks when a contentiously awarded sideline was swiftly passed into the middle to the oncoming Seneschalstown half back, James Byrne, who made no mistake from thirty metres out. A late tackle on Ciaran Ellis by a Seneschalstown midfielder went unpunished as Ciaran Beirne kicked the subsequent free wide at the Hospital end. Eoighan Riordan produced an excellent catch on his own forty and fed a pass to Ciaran Ellis who embarked on one of his trademark solo runs and scored a wonderful equaliser on five minutes. A couple of minutes later Ian Dowd was tackled late and this time the referee awarded the free from where the ball landed. A show of dissent from a Seneschalstown defender saw the ball brought forward a further thirteen metres leaving Eoin Reilly a relatively simple free kick which he duly converted. Reilly then scored a much more difficult free from just on the forty-five meter line to put Donaghmore Ashbourne two points clear after ten minutes. Even at this early stage of the game the contest between Joe Sheridan and Colm Ó Mealóid was becoming highly interesting and when Sheridan cleverly won a free kick, Bryan Clarke scored his first free of the day. In spite of Iarlaith O’Donnell’s best effort to keep him out, Byrne broke through to fist his second score from play bringing the sides back level again. Some hesitation in the Donaghmore Ashbourne defence saw Shane Clarke break through to edge Seneschalstown back in front. When O’Donnell was pulled for stepping onto the pitch while taking a line ball Seneschalstown won the throw in and Donaghmore Ashbourne conceded a free which Bryan Clarke converted. Joe Sheridan showed how dangerous he is when he attempted to score a goal soccer style but pulled the ball narrowly wide of the left hand post. Not to be outdone by his brother, Shane Clarke scored a free and then stretched Seneschalstown’s lead to four points with a well-taken point from play. This lead was to last barely a minute. Ian Dowd battled hard and won a very good tussle for possession, passed to David Morgan who fed the ball on to John Broderick. He in turn found Tony Morgan on the thirteen meter line and Morgan crashed the ball to the net for a superb goal. Seneschalstown responded with a point on the stroke of half time to lead by two going to the break.

Donaghmore Ashbourne missed a couple of chances early in the second half. Bryan Menton kicked a wide and then when he fielded the kick out superbly he laid the ball off to Ellis. This time the solo run ended with Ellis fisting the ball wide. This kick out fell to Eoighan Riordan who broke forward and kicked an excellent point with his left foot to reduce the deficit to the minimum. Some sloppy defending from Donaghmore Ashbourne yielded a free that Bryan Clarke slotted over. Joe Sheridan broke free and Donaghmore Ashbourne were mightily relieved to see his goal attempt go harmlessly wide. Joe Cowley extended the Seneschalstown lead to three before Menton caught another great ball in the centre and drove the ball over from more than forty-five meters out. Joe Sheridan finally got on the score sheet when he kicked his first point of the day to restore Seneschalstown’s three point lead. Eoin Reilly got his first point from play to narrow the gap before Donaghmore Ashbourne were awarded a penalty midway through the half. Kevin Lanigan struck it low and hard but was unlucky to see it go just wide of the post. Donaghmore Ashbourne responded extremely well to this setback. Tony Morgan set up Reilly for his second score from play and Eoighan Riordan got his second moments later to bring the sides level again. Seneschalstown then showed the true grit and courage that got them to the last two Senior Championship finals. Joe Sheridan pushed them back in front with an excellent solo effort. David Morgan made amends for his previous miss when he restored parity with a point straight from the top drawer. In the ever growing tension and excitement Bryan Clarke edged Seneschalstown back in front only for the lead to be cancelled out by a superb point from Sean Curran’s left boot. An Eoin Reilly free was heading tamely wide before Tony Morgan knocked it back into the path of the incoming John Broderick who made no mistake from close range to edge Donaghmore Ashbourne in front for the first time since the fourteenth minute of the match. Donaghmore Ashbourne finished strongly. A quickly taken free from Ellis found Ciaran Beirne who in turn found Reilly who pointed from thirty meters out. John Broderick got his second point of the afternoon deep in injury time to give Donaghmore Ashbourne a final winning margin of three points.

This was an excellent contest, played in almost perfect conditions and in a very good spirit. Referee Brendan Darby helped too with his unfussy style keeping the game flowing well. Donaghmore Ashbourne now face Dunboyne in the quarter finals.

Donaghmore Ashbourne:  1. Andrew Colgan; 2. Iarlaith O Donnell, 3. Cormac Mc Gill, 4. Sean Curran (0-1); 5. Ciaran Ellis (0-1), 6. Colm Ó Mealóid, 7. Eoighan Riordan (0-2); 8. Bryan Menton (0-1), 9. Kevin Lanigan;  10. Eoin Reilly (0-5, 2f), 11. Ciaran Beirne, 12. John Broderick (0-2); 13. Tony Morgan (1-0), 14. Ian Dowd, 15. David Morgan (0-1).

Seneschalstown: D. Lyons, G. Sheridan, C. Noonan, D. Byrne, P. Carey, G. Conlon, J. Byrne (0-2), R. Ruddy, D. Sheridan, C. Macken, J. Sheridan (0-2), J. Cowley (0-1), S. Clarke (0-4, 1f), B. Clarke (0-4, 3f), S. Finnegan. Subs: C. Gleeson for Byrne 50 mins, P. Waters for Cowley 55mins, D. Hosey for Macken 58 mins.