Ashbourne retain title

If they handed out Oscars for best drama then Ashbourne CS would have been worthy winners as they retained their Leinster Vocational Schools" SFC title with a thrilling extra-time victory over Wexford"s Bridgetown VC at Dr Cullen Park, Carlow on Saturday. Following an enthralling game it was the Meath boys who stood as deserving winners because it was their sheer heart, drive and most importantly their fitness that ensured they won out. Bridgetown were gutted at the final whistle. Throughout extra-time their players dropped like flies due to cramp and pure exhaustion. The amount of effort they put in during normal time would have won several games, but Ashbourne were resilient. The Wexford school tallied 15 wides and also squandered several other attacking situations, but Ashbourne refused to give up and ultimately had too much in the tank for Bridgetown. Supremacy ebbed and flowed from one side to the other. After sharing the opening four points, Bridgetown took advantage of an Ashbourne defensive mistake in the second-quarter and the lively David Murphy finished well Within 90 seconds Ashbourne responded when an excellent move which involved Shane Rock and Cian Maguire concluded with Neil Shortall finishing beyond Peter Carr with ease. Phelim Dowling added a point to make it 1-3 to 1-2. Bridgetown controlled the remainder of the half with points from twins Shane Goff (two) and Aaron Goff giving them a 1-5 to 1-3 interval lead. Nine minutes into the second-half Bridgetown opened up a 1-8 to 1-3 lead and looked set for a comfortable win. Ashbourne were playing second fiddle. The conceded six consecutive points and looked totally lost around midfield as the outstanding Goff twins lorded proceedings, but then came the big turning point. After opening up their five-point cushion Shay Delaney was denied a certain goal by an excellent save from Liam Hogan and from the scrambled clearance Ashbourne breathed a huge sigh of relief. Within three minutes an excellent Dermot Brennan point and a crucial Liam Tolan goal closed the gap to the minimum. Suddenly Ashbourne were back in contention. There was a spring in their step and even without the influential Andrew Tormey they looked dangerous again. After dominating for a significant period Bridgetown were on the back foot. David Coyle started to exert some major influence and with Dowling, Bryan Menton, Shortall and Tolan more prominent, the tide turned. After Tolan"s goal made it 2-4 to 1-8 Stephen Kavanagh and Tolan pointed to give the Meath champions a narrow lead. The tremendous Shane Goff levelled from a free with seven minutes remaining and although he had a late chance to win it, he cramped up as he kicked and extra-time was required (2-6 to 1-9). The first period of extra-time saw three Tolan points cancelled out by a goal from Robert Dempsey, but as the Bridgetown players started to suffer from severe cramp, it was obvious that if Ashbourne got get their noses in front they would win. However, in the second period of extra-time that proveddifficult. Rock wasted a couple of decent chances and Tolan dropped a 30 metre free short. Lee Devereux hit the upright for Bridgetown and as the final whistle approached it seemed as if a replay would be necessary. However, fittingly it was Coyle, one of Ashbourne"s star performers, who pushed the Meath side ahead with a fine score. Rock put the icing on the cake to stretch the winning margin in Ashbourne"s favour. SCORERS Ashbourne CS - L Tolan 1-4, one free; N Shortall 1-0; S Rock 0-2; C O"Sullivan 0-1; P Dowling 0-1; D Brennan 0-1; S Kavanagh 0-1; D Coyle 0-1. Bridgetown VC - S Goff 0-5, two frees; D Murphy 1-0; A Goff 0-3, frees; R Dempsey 1-0; L Devereux 0-1. THE TEAMS Ashbourne CS - Liam Hogan; Daryl Lawlor, John Fahy, Robert O"Connor; Dermot Brennan, Phelim Dowling, Matthew Devine; Stephen Kavanagh, Brian Menton; Colin O"Sullivan, Cian Maguire, David Coyle; Liam Tolan, Neil Shortall, Shane Rock. Subs - Gavin Kennedy for O"Sullivan 26 mins, David Hegarty for Rock 47m, O"Sullivan for Shortall 49m; extra-time - Rock for Hegarty 6m, Shortall for O"Sullivan half-time. Bridgetown VC - P Carr; M Maloney, S Gaul, T Cullen; D O"Keeffe, F O"Flaherty, B Lacey; N Casey, S Goff; D Murphy, A Goff, R Dempsey; S Connick, S Cousins, L Devereux. Subs - S Delaney for Connick 23mins, G Kinsella for Goff 60m; extra-time - Connick for Kinsella 1m, S Goff for Delaney 10m. REFEREE Pat Keogh (Carlow).