Tones end 50 year wait for Feis Cup glory

FIFTY years in existence and without a Feis Cup success Wolfe Tones finally set the record straight at Pairc Tailteann last Sunday with a 0-21 to 1-14 win over Donaghmore/Ashbourne.

You would almost think they were relying on that half a century of experience the manner with which they worked themselves back into contention as they slowly and methodically ground Donaghmore/Ashbourne down and once they got their noses in front there was only going to be one winner.

It did take them quite a while to get ahead, a brilliant two-pointer from wing back Daniel O’Neill had them leading for the first time on 50 minutes. However when you give the opposition an eight point lead inside the opening 10 minutes it takes patience and a certain amount of maturity to get back into the game and Tones had an abundance of both.

Holders Donaghmore/Ashbourne with the advantage of the breeze made a whirlwind start to proceedings with the opening eight points, but their 0-12 to 0-6 interval advantage hardly did justice to their opening half efforts.

They enjoyed superiority in most areas of the pitch and against a lesser team would surely have been out of sight. Tones just managed a single point from play in that opening half hour, a great effort from O’Neill off the outside of his boot on 11 minutes.

Boosted by a penalty goal from captain Thomas McGovern the Ashbourne men stretched their lead to 1-13 to 0-9 by the 38th minute but only managed a single point after that and failed to score in the final 20 minutes.

It was akin to sprinting the first 400 metres of a long distance race, they had completely run out of puff when it came to the business end.

And when that happened there is no one better to pick you off than Tones.

Two-pointers proved crucial for Paddy Martin’s charges in that second half and a brace from the outstanding O’Neill and another two from Caolan Ward, all top drawer scores, completely sucked the life out of Donaghmore/Ashbourne.

Ten points without reply was an indication of Tones superiority in the final quarter, with a free converted by Thomas O’Reilly kick-starting their revival.

Scores from Saran O Fionnagain and sub Ben Reilly came in between those two-pointers from O’Neill. When Ward hit a massive kick from well outside the 45-metre mark it left it 0-20 to 1-14 on 58 minutes. Ward then took his tally to eight for the hour with the insurance score a minute later.

That last quarter transformation was in sharp contrast to the opening passages as Thomas McGovern opened the holders account from a ’45 inside a minute. A two-pointer from Sean Tyrrell and scores from Stephen Carton and Andrew Tormey (free) left them five clear after just six minutes. It got even better for Timmy O’Regan’s side after that as Tormey converted a two-point free and Dylan Brady added another point.

Kyle Moran eventually opened Tones account on 10 minutes before O’Neill doubled their tally. There was still eight points between the teams’ after Tormey converted another free on 13 minutes.

A two-pointer free from Ward and further scores from Moran and Ward (both frees) kept Tones in contention.

Tones started the second half with another two-pointer free from Ward and a point from play by Thomas O’Reilly. However those scores were wiped out following a foul on Sean Curran which resulted in a penalty and McGovern made no mistake from the spot kick.

Sean Tyrrell stretched the lead out to seven points but it all began to unravel for the Dublin border side after that. Eoin Donegan and Oisin Martin edged Tones closer before the deluge in the final quarter.

Wolfe Tones – Stephen Sheppard; Conor Sheppard, Shane Glynn, Sean Kendall; Daniel O’Neill 0-5 (two two-pointers), Ross Gallagher, Adam O’Neill; Sean Penny, Eoin Donegan (0-1); Thomas O’Reilly (0-2 one free), Saran O Fionnagain (0-1), Oisin Martin (0-1); Caolan Ward 0-8 (three two-point frees, two frees), Fiachra Ward, Kyle Moran (0-2 frees). Subs – Ben Reilly (0-1) for Moran, Adrian Crawford for F Ward both 43m.

Donaghmore/Ashbourne – Eoin Ryan; Oisin Daly, Sean Curran, Conor Carton; Shaun Byrne, Thomas McGovern (1-1 1-0 penalty, one ‘45), Evan Quinn; Kevin Cully, Evan O’Kane; Cael Sullivan, Jamie Browne (0-1), Stephen Carton (0-3); Andrew Tormey (0-5 three frees, one two-point free), Sean Tyrrell (0-3 one two-pointer), Dylan Brady (0-1). Subs – James Crumlish for O’Kane half-time, Jack Doran for Brady 50m, Cillian Hegarty for Byrne, Darragh McGovern for S Carton both 53m.

Referee – Kieran Olwell (Moynalty).