Battling Ashbourne make an early exit

After a tough and physical encounter Ashbourne were sent tumbling out of the Provincial Towns" Cup when they lost to North Kildare at Kilcock on Sunday. The strong, swirling wind was a big factor in this bruising encounter as it made it very difficult for both teams to handle the ball properly. It was looking ominous for Ashbourne when they went in at the interval just a point in front, 9-8, despite having the elements at their backs. The visitors started the game brightly, but soon lost the services of flanker Ciaran Gannon. He was replaced by Stephen Magee who had played a major role in Ashbourne"s win over Boyne in the Provincial Seconds tie the previous day. Despite missing three regulars the Ashbourne pack contested well against their North Kildare counterparts. The Ashbourne front three of Alan Wall, John Gavin and Colm McMahon were excellent in the tight, a part of the game the home side were expected to dominate. Jeff Mahon, who was captain for the day, led by example and rallied his troops around him. After five minutes Bryan Donnelly edged Ashbourne ahead with a well-struck penalty however, the visitors found it difficult to make the breakthrough for a try. Ashbourne tackled, mauled and drove well without getting much mileage from their opponents who were clearly up for this game. Then, out of nothing, North Kildare put the ball through the hands and touched down in the left corner for an unconverted try against the run of play. Donnelly struck back with his second penalty, but again the home side responded with a well-taken drop goal in the 20th minute. Ashbourne spent long spells camped inside the North Kildare '22" with scrum after scrum and maul after maul repelled. Donnelly had two more attempts to increase Ashbourne"s lead and he was successful with the second, slotting the ball between the posts to give his team their slim interval advantage. The bitterly cold wind increased in intensity in the second-half and facing the elements Ashbourne endeavoured to keep the ball tight in the pack. At times they sought to make progress with straight runs from Matt Ward, Andy Munn and Paul Mullen with various degrees of success. Both sides found it difficult to find a way through as defences dominated. The only score of the second-half came when North Kildare disrupted an Ashbourne scrum, picked up possession and scored in the corner. This time a well-taken conversion carried the home side six points clear, a lead the visitors could not recover. John Scariff and David Corbally were introduced to try and give extra momentum to Ashbourne"s cause, but North Kildare held out to claim their win. Ashbourne had excellent performances from Wall, their man of the match, with Mahon, John Gavin and Matt Ward also giving excellent displays. Ashbourne - P Mullen, D Colreavy, M Ward, A Munn, E Conaty, B Donnelly, S O"Neill; A Wall, J Gavin, C McMahon, S Eoin Kennedy, J Mahon, I Power, C Glennon, P Hall.