Navan win again to sustain the habit

Navan recorded their second Leinster League Div 1 victory after a bruising victory over hosts Boyne on Sunday. An early try from Ryan Roberts which he converted settled the Navan men and after withstanding some fierce Boyne pressure he added a penalty to leave his side 10-0 up after the first-quarter. Two penalties from former Navan player Niall Kirby opened the Boyne account and another from Roberts left the half-time score at 13-6. Navan started the second period strongly and added two more tries from scrum-half Ciaran Mattson and a superb effort from Bernard Smyth after a jinking run by Karl Manning. Roberts converted one of those tries to leave Navan 25-6 ahead and in search of one more try to secure a bonus point. Unfortunately that fourth try never came and it was Kirby who crossed the line to finish off the scoring for Boyne. Navan - K Manning, M Hanratty, R Conaty, S. Donnelly, S Hogan, R Roberts, C Matson; E King, C Byrne, D King, B Harris, J Duffy, P Fenney, S Iro, B Smyth. Subs - E Dunne for King, T Geraghty for Donnelly, T Clarke for Fenney, S Gallagher for Manning. Kilkenny 18 Ashbourne 16 Ashbourne made the long trip to Kilkenny for this Leinster League Div 2 match on Sunday and were unlucky to come away with a loss. A poor first-half performance was the key to their downfall as the concession of three tries in the opening 30 minutes meant it was an uphill struggle after that. Ashbourne did manage a try in the first-half when Ollie Ennis touched over after a driving maul from a line-out and they trailed by 8-18 at the interval. An improved second-half display from the Meath side managed to salvage a bonus point for not losing by more than seven points. Midway through the half Paul Mullen touched down for Ashbourne after an incisive break from Andy Munn had created the opening. A missed conversion followed, but another penalty from Munn in the 30th minute cut the deficit to two points. Stephen O"Neill, Ciaran Glennon, Andy Munn, Phil Hall and Christy Jordan were most impressive for the Meath side. Ashbourne - S Laurentia, S George, M Ward, P Mullen, E Conaty, A Munn, S O"Neill; O Ennis, J Gavin, C Jordan, J Mahon, E Gallagher, I Power, C Glennon, P Hall. Subs - A Gallagher, A Wall, E Greene, S Magee, D Colreavy Boyne 15 Navan 0 Navan seconds lost out to Boyne in this Provincial Seconds League Div 1 match on Sunday. They trailed by 0-5 at the break after a first-half that lasted for almost an hour due to a serious injury to Navan centre Alan Jones, who was brought to hospital with a leg injury. Boyne tagged on another converted try and penalty in the second-half. Scrum-half Darren Cherry was Navan"s best performer in a disappointing performance. Navan - E Hanratty, R Reilly, TP Lenehan, D Brecknell, S Byrne, C Corrigan, R Ball; P Regan, D Cherry, C Joyce, R Flannery, A Jones, B Commisky, A O"Keeffe, M McAuley. Subs - D Dixon, N Finlay, D McDonald. Kilkenny 8 Ashbourne 14 Ashbourne defeated hosts Kilkenny in thr Provincial seconds league encounter. Having conceded an early try, the Ashbourne men rallied well and tries from Rory Scanlon and Ciaran Roche, both of which were converted by Scotty Broughton, secured the victory Having suffered with injury last season, full-back Dermot Colreavy returned to give a tremendous performance for Ashbourne and he was assisted most notably by Eric Green, Alan Wall and Paul Johnson in an excellent team performance. Ashbourne - D Colreavy, O Smith, E Greene, D Cahill, R Scanlon, S Broughton, G Egan; C Boylan, P Johnson, H Strydrom, C Roche, A Wall, K Bolster, S Magee, A Gallagher. Subs - N Boxwell, D Donnelly, N Battersby. North Meath 11 Ardee 6 North Meath"s first foray into the J3 McGee Cup proved successful on Sunday as they triumphed away to Ardee. Denis O"Neill scored the Kells-based side"s only try of the game and their scoring was completed by two Conal Finn penalties. Best for the winners were Aidan McEntee, Gary Hickey, Finn and Simon Deevy. UNDER-AGE Athboy 3 Navan 40 Navan recorded a comfortable victory away to Athboy in the u-18 Northeast League on Saturday. It was a brave performance from the Athboy side who never stopped battling right through to the end. An early Shane Mooney penalty was the only score Athboy managed against a classy Navan outfit. Danny Mullen, Mark Lenehan, Joe Griffin, David Bartley and Alan Magnier showed up well for the home side. Athboy - S Mooney, D Murray, C Smith, A Magnier, J Bird, C O"Flaherty, D Bartley: C Gilsenan, J Griffin, D Mullen, B Keogh, D King, O Vahey, M Lenehan, C Farrelly. Navan u-16"s & u-15"s travelled to Greystones for a round-robin with Gorey last weekend and remained undefeated. The u-15"s shared the spoils with Greystones as they drew 34-34. The u-16"s recorded an impressive 21 -10 success over Gorey. Navan squads: R O"Brien, B Kirwan, M Clarke, L Bourke, A Meade, N Carty, K O"Dwyer, J Sheridan, A Garland, C Keating, E O"Keeffe, K Devine, D Jordan, A Moran, D Dalton, A Douglas, R Feeney, D Mooney, H Martyn, C Dunne, C Blake, S Stafford, D Regan, B Regan, S O"Donnell A Douglas, G McGrane, R Feeney, E Dixon, C Dunne, G Sauveroche.