Donaghmore/Ashbourne v Gaeil Colmcille Round 1 Group C.

H/T Donaghmore/Ashbourne 1-4 Gaeil Colmcille 0-11.

F/T Donaghmore/Ashbourne 2-7 Gaeil Colmcille 0-16

With all the preparation done over the last number of weeks, the expectations were high that our Senior team would give this game a right go. Unfortunately it didn't go as planned and Gaeil Colmcille went 3 point up before Kevin Fenton sent over the first point after 6 minutes. It didn't get much better as we went behind by 8pts to 1pt with 15 minutes on the clock. Bryan Menton made it 8pts to 2pts after 17 minutes. Andy Colgan came to the rescue when he pulled off a fine save to a certain goal but he seemed to suffer an injury in the process but stayed on the field. His kickout to Darragh McGovern and a quick pass from him to Andrew Tormey resulted in a cracker of a goal which brought some hope with 4 pts between the teams. Gaeil Colmcilles replied with another point from a free. Dylan Brady finished with a point when Donaghmore/Ashbourne were pushing to get into this game. Kells pushed on and got another 2 points from frees to go 11pts to 1-3 up. Iarlaith O'Donnell was introduced for Lynch after 25 minutes. Good play out of the backs from Evan Quinn to Sean Curran saw him score a point from play which brought us to half time with a score of Gaeil Colmcille 11pts Don/Ash 1-4.

The second half started with the replacement keeper Jack Hannigan in for the injured Andy Colgan. 3points from the opposition from play and frees put them firmly in the driving seat. Donaghmore/Ashbourne were guilty of some bad wides and it took 18 minutes to register a score from Andrew Tormey a point from a free. In fairness to the lads they never gave up and fought to get back into the game and Kevin Fenton came in on the end of some good possession to finish to the back of the net and gave us some hope and put us back to 4pts deficit. Stephen Carton scored a point shortly after been introduced for Tormey with about 4 minutes left in normal time. Darragh McGovern converted a point from a free in injury time. Don/Ash could have snatched a draw but for the fine save from a Jamie Browne shot on goal deep into injury time. Donaghmore/Ashbourne will need to improve to have any chance of coming out of this group and will rue some of the goal chances they missed today but overall will need to give themselves a better chance by not allowing oppositions to build up such a lead.

Don/Ash:- Andy Colgan, Luke Barrett, Colin Lynch, Conor Carton, Evan Quinn, Sean Curran (0-1), Thomas McGovern, Kevin Cully, Bryan Menton (0-1), Shaun Byrne, Shane Melia, Kevin Fenton (1-1), Darragh McGovern (0-1 1f), Andrew Tormey (1-1 1f), Dylan Brady (0-1).

Subs:- Iarlaith O'Donnell for Lynch (25), Jack Hannigan for Colgan (h/t) Leo Reilly for Byrne (45), Jamie Browne for Melia (50), Stephen Carton (0-1) for Tormey (56)

Next Round in 2 weeks v Ratoath.