Ashbourne face North Kildare challenge

OUT of contention for the Leinster League Div 2 title, Ashbourne are looking to the Provincial Towns" Cup for some solace this season with North Kildare lined up to play them in the next round this weekend, either Saturday or Sunday. Inconsisent form has left Ashbourne currently lying fourth in the Leinster League Div 2 with all realistic prospects of the title or even promotion gone. It is a disappointing scenario for a club that was aiming to make an immediate return to Div 1 after they suffered relegation at the end of last season. Crucial games haven"t gone Ashbourne"s way and now they will look to the Towns" Cup for some compensation. Ashbourne defeated Portarlington by 16-13 in the opening round of the famous old competition last week. Kilkenny were red-hot favourites to win that game, but an extra-time try sealed a shock victory for North Kildare to earn them a home game against Ashbourne. At the time of writing it was still uncertain when Ashbourne would take on North Kildare. Ashbourne were hoping it would be played on Saturday prior to the Ireland v France international. The Meath club are due to host a friendly between the Irish youths and French side Languedoc next Sunday, the same date as Ashbourne and North Kildare are scheduled to meet in the Towns" Cup. Ashbourne RFC secretary Bill Duggan says the club want as many personnel around as possible to help out on the day when they play host to the Ireland"s rugby stars of tomorrow. Whenever Ashbourne get around to taking on North Kildare they will go into the game with considerable confidence that they can win on the day. The Milltown outfit have a good record against North Kildare having played them on many occasions in the past. Duggan says that Ashbourne will need to be ready for a stern challenge if they are to progress. 'We have a good record against North Kildare, but any game is a snapshot in time. They are having a very good season while we are having only an adequate season.' Duggan added that while North Kildare are a Division 3 side, they defeated Kilkenny who are two places above Ashbourne in Division 2. One encouraging aspect of Ashbourne"s season so far is that they have bagged more bonus points than any other team in the league. It is also significant that their top try scorer is their most experienced player, the evergreen Jeff Mahon, who is a regular in the forward position. Ollie Ennis and James McCaghey are others who have impressed in recent outings with former Navan player Bryan Donnelly filling in at out-half. Ashbourne haven"t travelled well this season admits Duggan and they have all too often struggled to get their backline going often enough to expose gaps in opposition defences. Whatever about the travails of the first team, Ashbourne RFC are doing very nicely. The seconds are doing well in their league, the thirds are in contention for the McGee Cup. The club"s u-18s have put together a good run and their scrum-half Gavin Kennedy is on the Leinster team. Ashbourne"s first class facilities are also in demand. The club played host to their first Leinster Senior Schools" Cup game between Skerries and St Mary"s on Wednesday of last week when a crowd of 1,000 turned up. Ashbourne will also be the training location for the Irish u-20s during this season"s Six Nations series. Other representative teams use the three all-weather pitches at Ashbourne. The last time Ashbourne made it to a Provincial Towns" Cup final was in 1999 when they lost out to Navan in Mullingar. They can take another step towards ending their exile from the final with a win over North Kildare.