Navan spoil Athboy's bid for McGee Cup hat-trick

This McGee Cup final at Ardee on Sunday will not go down as a memorable encounter full of attacking and counter-attacking rugby. At times this was a classic war of attrition with backs trying to get the edge on their opponents in the set-pieces, rucks and mauls. The day and the ground was dry and it looked early on that the attendance would be served up an exhibition of attacking rugby in the bright sunshine. It didn't turn out like that as both packs went about the business of trying to exert their superiority. And while there were few sweeping attacking moves the game did conclude in a moment of genuine drama when Athboy were awarded an injury-time penalty kick. The kick was about 30 metres out and slightly to the right of the posts. Up stepped Ciaran Murphy, Athboy's place-kicker and if he scored the game would have gone to extra-time. This was a pressure kick if there ever was one. He took his time, stepped forward and took aim. Instead of going between the posts the ball sailed to the left. He was very unlucky because the ball appeared to move ever so slightly just as his boot made contact with leather. The chance for redemption was gone and the final whistle sounded immediately afterwards much to the joy of the Navan players and supporters. Certainly Navan had good reason to feel relieved as they had gained a lucky reprieve. Their win was also built on a spirited determination to hang in and keep working even when it appeared the game was slipping from their grasp. Their success was as much built on a strong work ethic as the late penalty miss at the end. The Balreask Old side trailed for most of the afternoon conceding a try after just five minutes in what constituted a nervy, uncertain start. They never really got their backline going and went into the break trailing 6-10 with both their first-half scores coming from two well-struck Michael Lowther (pictured) penalties. Both sides were guilty of making unforced and forced errors in the early stages of the second-half as the game hung in the balance. Then on the hour mark Navan got the break that was to prove so decisive. Athboy won a scrum about 35 metres out. They secured the ball comfortably and scrum-half Greg Lutz fed it back to out-half Alan Fox. It looked a routine clearance. Fox sought to kick for touch only to have his clearance blocked down by Navan's Johnny Finnegan who did extremely well to get up to the kicker so quickly. The ball could not have fallen kinder for substitute Finnegan who was only on the field a short while. It landed into his arms and he had a clear run to the tryline for the decisive score of the afternoon. The score was a combination of skill and good fortune. Lowther converted and suddenly from a situation where Navan were playing catch up looking to get a foothold in the game they were in front, where they stayed. The Navan defence had to be strong in the last 20 minutes or so as Athboy sought to exploit any weaknesses. The tackles flew in and the Athboy set pieces remained steady. Athboy just couldn't find a way through with the experience of players such as Kieran Brassil proving invaluable to Navan. The Navan cause wasn't helped when in two different stages in the second-half they were reduced to 14 men because of the sin-binning of Brian Connolly and Richie Ball. For those spells when they were a man down it was like Custer's last stand for Navan yet they held on to win. The downbeaten look on the faces of the Athboy players at the end was in sharp contrast to how they appeared at the start of the afternoon. Going into the game looking to complete a three-in-a-row Athboy carved out the opening try with just five minutes played when Eoin Ryan powered over and Murphy confidently converted. Murphy was to later tag on a penalty in the opening half to help his team go in at the break with that four-point interval advantage. With Navan unable to get their back-line moving to any great effect Athboy were looking comfortable until, out of the blue, they conceded a try. That appeared to rock their morale. Athboy tried to put together a number of attacking moves in the closing stages with Murphy and Michéal Priest doing particularly well in finding some precious space in the crowded midfield. With Navan's tackling exemplary Athboy were denied a passage through for a try. Yet they still looked like they had found a way to save their three-in-a-row ambitions when they were awarded two penalties in quick succession as the game slipped into injury time. The ball was brought forward for dissent after the second penalty was given and suddenly Athboy had a chance to save the day. That chance was not taken and Navan survived to bag the silverware. Navan - J Macken, R Smith, J O'Meara, M Lowther, B Dunphy, T Foley, D Cherry; K Brassil, M Connolly, D Dixon, P Maginn, D Dempsey, V O'Shea, A Hoey, R Ball, R Hirtes for Connolly. Subs - B Connolly for O'Shea, J Finnegan for Hoey, D Kelly for O'Meara, O'Shea for Maginn, E Craik for Cherry. Athboy - B McLoughlin, A O'Toole, C Murphy, M Priest, E Ryan, A Fox, G Lutz; J P Matthews, J Griffin, G Fitzpatrick, S Lee, C Cullen, E Whelan, B Quirke, M Casey. Subs - E Bridge for Lee, T Masterson for Fitzgerald, Lee for Masterson. Referee - Tony Grehan (Leinster Branch).