Ashbourne qualify for the All-Ireland decider

THE boys from Ashbourne CS showed they could learn the lessons of the past and move on to greater things when they defeated Athenry VS in the All-Ireland Vocational Schools SFC semi-final on Sunday. A year ago Ashbourne were defeated in the last four of the same competition by Castlewellan from Co Down. The Ashbourne team who took the field on Sunday contained a sizeable contingent of players who lost out to the Ulster champions on that occasion. Spurred on by memories of that bitter disappointment they were obviously determined to avoid a similar fate and succeeded in doing just that in considerable style against the Galway boys. They raced into a 2-4 to 1-5 interval lead and pushed on from there to subdue their opponents with plenty to spare. Ironically, Ashbourne will now play Castlewellan in the final on Easter Saturday and the opportunity presents itself to complete the reversal of fortunes. That half-time lead was all the more praiseworthy as Ashbourne played into a stiff breeze yet they still had a sharper cutting edge to go in with the cushion of a two-point advantage. While there was little between the teams in the early stages although Ashbourne didn"t make the best of starts and trailed 0-2 to 1-2 after nine minutes when one of Athenry"s dangermen Cathal Greaney fired to the net. During that opening spell Ashbourne looked nervous and tentative, but midway through the half the game took a decisive turn when the Meath side fired home two goals inside a minute. The first goal was scored after 14 minutes when Andrew Tormey and Liam Tolan were involved in opening up the Athenry defence and David Coyle skilfully did the rest. From the kick-out Ashbourne won possession. Tormey, Coyle and Tolan were again involved in teasing out a chance with the coup de grace applied by Tolan. The young Skryne player slipped when he won possession before he got up, held off a challenge, and made the net dance. Those goals put Ashbourne 2-3 to 1-2 in front and that"s where they stayed for the rest of the game despite Athenry enjoying some spells of dominance. Once they shook off their early nerves Ashbourne performed very well as a unit. Their defenders harried and hussled their opponents into errors and a startling fact from the game was that only two of Athenry"s six forwards managed to score from play and even then it was just a point apiece. Goalkeeper Liam Hogan also played his part with one fine save in the second-half when he did well to keep out a piledriver from Galway minor Kevin Hussey. Gavin Kennedy, who has played under-age rugby for Leinster, exemplified the Ashbourne attitude in that he was down in the team-sheet as a corner forward however, popped up all over the pitch. He was frequently seen helping his own defence out and still in enough forward positions to slot over three points from play. One of those points, scored soon after the resumption, demonstrated how quickly Ashbourne could turn defence into attack. The move started when Ashbourne centre-back Cian Maguire intercepted a pass deep inside his own half, Bryan Menton, Tolan and Phelim Dowling passed their way upfield and Kennedy slotted over. Tolan went on to split the posts in the second-half with Andrew O"Brien also showing for two points that helped Ashbourne on their way while substitute Cian O"Sullivan contributed an excellent score. Tormey started the game on the '40" before moving to the full-forward position where he wreaked havoc. The second-half was only three minutes old when O"Brien and Matthew Devine worked in tandem to create and opening for Tormey who was 20 metres out when he won possession. A point looked the most likely score however, the Donaghmore / Ashbourne player had other things on his mind. He took a few steps forward before unleashing an exocet low to the net for a fine goal. Just three minutes later Hussey ran through to get an equally impressive goal for Athenry. Tormey and his colleagues hit on the perfect antidote to that score at the start of the final quarter when Menton and O"Brien worked the ball into the square and Tormey used his considerable height to punch the ball to the net. After that there was only going to be one winner. There were moments when Ashbourne lived on the edge. There was Hogan"s fine save and the moment late on when full-back John Fahy made a crucial, brave interception to deny Athenry full-forward Cathal O"Brien what looked like a certain goal. Athenry put in a late splurge and scored the last three points of the game. They couldn"t make a serious dent in Ashbourne"s lead or hamper their progress to the final. Ashbourne CS - Liam Hogan; Daryl Lawlor, John Fahy, Robert O"Connor; Dermot Brennan, Cian Maguire, Phelim Dowling; Stephen Kavanagh, Brian Menton; David Coyle (1-0), Andrew Tormey (2-2), Matthew Devine; Liam Tolan (1-1), Andrew O"Brien (0-2), Gavin Kennedy (0-3). Subs - C O"Sullivan (0-1) for O"Connor. Athenry VS - S Kelly; C Maher, J Connelly, T Davey; P Doyle, M Keating, M Murphy; D Burke (0-3), K Hussey (1-0); C Ruane, D Fox, R Craddock; C Greaney (1-6), C O"Brien, E Blade (0-1). Sub - T Blade for O"Brien. Referee - Pat Fox (Westmeath).