Dunboyne are the real deal

Dunboyne NS claimed the Meath Primary Schools boys Div 1 title with ease at Pairc Tailteann on Saturday as they overwhelmed St Mary"s NS, Ashbourne in a one-sided encounter that failed to produce much in the way of excitement. That is no slight on Dunboyne because they were the vastly more superior side and were so good that they never gave St Mary"s a look in and restricted them to just one score in the first-half and one goal from play in the second-half. It was a complete performance from Dunboyne. They were rarely tested at the back, but when St Mary"s did threaten any sort of attack it was generally snuffed out by the outstanding Dean Quinn, Ciaran Carey and Paul Coss. The Ashbourne boys did have a few early chances to get off the mark, but they were wide of the target and had to wait until the 15th minute before Dunboyne surrendered even a half chance. Much of the early Dunboyne inspiration came from their captain Daire Boylan. The youngster obviously benefited from the wealth of talent he found himself being surrounded with when his father Sean was manager of both the Meath senior footballers and the Irish International Rules team. Boylan junior showed good creative initiatives, he was tough and fair in the tackles and took his scores superbly well in a brilliant, almost perfectly rounded performance. However, Boylan wasn"t the only star of the show against an unfortunate St Mary"s side that were well out of their depth. Midfielders Shane Comiskey and John Finnerty kept the pressure on their opponents, while Conor Kealy was a constant threat at full-forward. Both sides struggled in the opening stages and it took almost six minutes before Boylan opened the scoring, and what a goal it was. The captain gathered a long pass from Gareth Black and rifled a piledriver to the roof of the net from over 20 metres. That score sparked Dunboyne"s dominance. Kealy, Eoghan Dunne and Boylan piled on points before Kealy got the final touch to Finnerty"s long centre and fisted to the net to leave Dunboyne with a comfortable 2-3 to 0-0 advantage. Comiskey stretched that lead from a free and six minutes before the break the game was put out of St Mary"s reach when Kealy capitalised on the breaking ball to tap in his side"s third goal. Niall Kavanagh almost netted for the Ashbourne school but he was denied by a good save from David Fitzgerald. Seconds later Ronan Jones notched Dunboyne"s fourth goal before Ashbourne finally got off the mark with Stephen Carton pointing to leave it 0-1 to 4-4 at half-time. St Mary"s needed a good start to the second-half, but instead it was Dunboyne who continued to dominate with Black adding two points before McDonnell netted the fifth goal. Michael O"Hara gave Ashbourne something to cheer about when he flicked the ball to the net, but it was only a temporary respite as Dunboyne moved into a 6-10 to 1-1 lead with points from Boylan (two), Kealy and Carey and a second goal for Boylan. Ashbourne"s efforts to get a second goal were thwarted by a brilliant save from Fitzgerald before Carton"s free concluded the scoring, but still left Dunboyne winners by a comfortable margin. Dunboyne - David Fitzgerald; Mark Daly, Dean Quinn, Eoghan Ryan; Ciaran Carey (0-1), Paul Coss, Conor Finn; Shane Comiskey (0-1), John Finnerty; Daire Boylan (2-3), Eoghan Dunne (0-1), Gareth Black (0-2); Adam McDonnell (1-0), Conor Kealy (2-2), Ronan Jones (1-0). Subs - David McEntee, David O"Keeffe, Ronan Fitzmaurice, Jack Cox, James Collins-Caffrey, Micheal Hogan, Brian Rohan, Conor Rohan, Cian Flynn, Darren O"Connor. Managers - Brendan Keogh, Ciaran Fadian, James Rafter, Willie Lyons. St Mary"s NS Ashbourne - David King; Brendan Meehan, Conor Moriarty, Jack O"Brien; Ken Crowley, Luke Lehane, Shane Rea; Dylan Brady, Scott Crowley; John Wilson, Callum Leighburn, Niall Kavanagh; Kyle Kelly, Stephen Carton (0-2), Owen McGovern. Subs - Luke Andrews, Kyle Smyth, Gavin Monnelly, Luke Bailey, Conor Heffernan, Michael O"Hara (1-0), Glenn Coyle, Adam Carberry, Aurimus Reklaitis, Dalton Leighburn, Christopher Lacy. Managers - J Walsh, C Halpin, P O"Connor, C Giblin. Referee - Paul O"Donnell (Kilmessan NS).