"What beat us in the end was what I was afraid of bumping up against all year"

After the match, Ashbourne CS manager Joe Gibney gave his immediate thoughts and started by explaining how all year he was afraid of coming up against a pacy and energetic team, and that was exactly what Abbey brought to the table in Saturday’s final, writes Tom Gannon.

However, Gibney did stress how proud he was of his side's achievements and efforts throughout the year.

“I’m very proud of the players for what they have achieved this year. They are a fantastic bunch of lads. You know, what beat us in the end was what I was afraid of bumping up against all year. This Abbey team has pace all over the pitch, and I was afraid of that from the start. Their speed caused us a lot of hassle. We just didn’t have the players to match their sort of pace. To be fair to our lads, they have put in serious effort all year and it just wasn’t to be for us on the day.”

Ashbourne CS went in at half-time seven points down after a weary second-quarter. They did show serious resilience though and dominated the third quarter. As Gibney pointed out, they could have easily been in front had a few more balls snuck in the right side of the post.

"We were down by seven at half time and it wasn’t looking good. We came out and scored the first four scores of the second half. After that first 10 minutes, we were only down by a couple of points. We could have actually taken the lead in the game. I think there were five chances in a row there that we missed. Then we got the black card. I really feel that we were hard done by all day. I’m not one to criticise officials but I thought we were hard done by on numerous decisions today. The lads themselves played to the best of their ability and that is really all you can ask of them."

Gibney has seen many young lads of great potential pass through the school and he believes that because of what he has seen over the years, Donaghmore/Ashbourne should be competing for Meath senior titles every year but he does think that this current crop of young Ashbourne CS players have a bright future ahead of them.

"The future does look bright for these lads but that has been the case for a long time in Ashbourne. I’ve been saying it for a long time, Donaghmore/Ashbourne should be up there every year competing for Meath senior titles. The players that have come through this school in the past have had serious ability. I’m shocked that they haven’t won an All-Ireland club title never mind a Meath club title! These lads here this year have serious belief in themselves and there is no doubt there are plenty of lads here with a bright future ahead of them," concluded the manager.