Both our adult teams were out in the championship on Saturday the 16th of May.
Our first team were out first on the cold wet afternoon, against a formidable Kiltale side. The opposition started the game with a strong wind at their backs, and it was evident that they were well equipped to use it. The sliotar came hailing down on the Ashbourne defence from the get go, and although they worked extremely hard to hold off the oncoming attacks, it was only a matter of time before Kiltale broke through on goal. Kiltale’s first goal chance fell to their full forward, who had the whole goal to aim for but still managed to hit goalkeeper Colm ‘The Doc’ Doherty square in the eye. The ball then ricocheted off his retina and into the back of the net. Other than the goals, most of the opposition’s scores came from frees, which were competently put over by the Kiltale freetaker. Although the Ashbourne forwards were somewhat starved of ball, they managed to make good strides into the opposition’s quarter when they gained possession of the sliotar, with great work being done up there by David Carey and Aonghus Mulvihill. An Adrian McManus wondergoal kept the lads in touch during the first half. Unfortunately Kiltale continued to pull away as the half progressed. Half time score was 2-7 to 1-1. The second half brought the wind behind the Ashbourne side and the lads knew that if they lifted the workrate they could make the most of it and overcome the opposition. Kiltale were wise not to let their lead slip away in the second half, so they crowded out the defence with all but 3 or 4 players. With a lack of space and time on the ball the Ashbourne forwards could not make the comeback on the scoreboard as planned. Even though they had the lions share of possession in the second half, they could only draw it 3 points a piece. Full time score: Kiltale 2-10  Don/Ash 1-4.  Team on the day: Colm Doherty, Maitiú Baxter, Noel Woods, Colin Garry, Éanna Butler, Paddy Finn, Fiach Ó Loingsigh, Seán Fox, Cathal Field, David Carey, John O Riordan, Aonghus Mulvihill, Fionán Mulvihill, Adrian McManus, Andrew Byrne. Subs. Morgan Garry for Colin Garry.
The second team were out directly after the first on that same Saturday, against Kells. There was an unusually big turnout for the second team on this horribly wet day, with hardly enough space for them in the dressing room (granted, Dunganny dressing rooms are significantly smaller than most. But that’s a discussion for another day). The lads went out with great enthusiasm and this was evident as they were playing with alot more rhythm than their opponents in the first half. The match got a little gritty at times, with plenty of strong tackles and stray digs around the pitch, but nothing anyone on the pitch couldn’t handle. As the match continued through the second half, Ashbourne continued to apply pressure and pushed on to win the match. There were alot of good displays on the day. The best of these from John Broderick, Ciarán Finn and Brian Fitzgerald. With all three of them running straight towards goal when they gained possession, resulting in a score most times. The defence on the day also put up a great performance to keep the Kells side at bay, with more than one goal line scramble in the second half. Fortunately, second half goalkeeper Rainsford came out with the ball safely on most occasions. Rory Gleeson and Padraic Durkan also had good performances keeping the attackers out. Full time score: Don/Ash 4-7  Kells 2-8.  Team on the day: Daniel McShane, Paul Giblin, Eamonn Hogan, Seán Robinson, , Rory Gleeson, Padraic Durkan, Ciarán Finn, Steven Meagher, John Broderick, Ian Dowd, Brian Fitzgerald, Terry Bruton, Billy Whelan, Eoin McCabe. Subs. David Greene for Steven Meagher, Paul Rainsford for Daniel McShane, Leon Tormey for David Greene.

June 19th saw both our junior hurling sides taking on local rivals Ratoath in Kiltale.

Our first team were out first in a match that they had to win in order to make up for the dissapointment in Dunganny their first time out against Kiltale. A win here would have put them back even with all teams in the group and al would have started from scratch again. Unfortunately they came up against a strong Ratoath team with great ambitions for the year. Although Ash started off well enough they never got going into the game and Ratoath were always on top. This is how the game continued and even with a push from Ash towards the end in which they scored some late goals, they still couldn't overturn the Ratoath side. The game ended with a scorelie of 1-19 to 3-9.

Our second team on the other hand took the field against Ratoath's seconds and absolutely blew them out of the water. Ashbourne were on top in every position on the pitch from begginning(that must be spelt wrong) to end, with our forwards doing very well in front of goal throughout. The final scoreline was 5-14 to 2-4.

Wednesday July 1st saw our first team take on Wolfe Tones.

Final scoreline:      Don/Ash       3-13

Wolfe Tones 2-10

On Thursday July 9th our first team were out again against St Pats of Stamullen.

Final Score:         Don/Ash 1-25

St. Pats   3-10

Final Score:         Don/Ash       2-6

Rathmolyon  1-7

This puts our lads in a semi final versus Trim, which will take place on August 22nd.