Report by Jonathan Carr

Donaghmore Ashbourne – V – Dunshaughlin

Championship Division 1 Final   17th September 2022   PáircTailteann

These two teams met in the first match of this campaign back on 22nd July and it ended in a draw, 1-08 a-piece, and it is no surprise that they are both still standing on final day.

The match started with big Joe Magee winning the throw in, the ball then going to Danny Derry who did the sensible thing, hand passed it over for a point within 30 seconds. Dunshaughlin came back up the field and scored a point, followed by a wide. Donaghmore maintained possession for a long period with some lovely controlled hand passing resulting in a another point handed over the bar by the powerful Killian Hogan. Dunshaughlin levelled and could have gone ahead only for a timely diving block from Jack McCarney at the top of the D. Shortly after Dunshaughlin did go ahead with a lovely outside of the boot kick that just curled enough to go over for a point.

The Donaghmore backs worked tirelessly and were hugely supported by our forwards who tracked back throughout the game. It was not unusual to see Darragh Gleeson, Cian Field or Danny Deery in a corner back position! David Donnelly scored after securing a mark, followed by another Dunshaughlin point.

It was at this point of the game that things changed dramatically. A long ball in from Joe Magee was caught by Danny Deery who gave it straight to Sam Benville who was just outside of the goal. Although he was surrounded by Dunshaughlin players he managed to pass it over their heads to the well positioned Sean Tyrell who palmed it in for a goal and a nice birthday present for himself. Happy birthday Sean! Donaghmore upped their tempo and kept pressurising the Dunshaughlin goal. Sam Benville took a long ball and fed it to David Donnelly on the left hand side of goal. What we then witnessed was a sublime goal that could be contender for goal of the century (well, at least goal of the week!)….from a very tight angle David Donnelly caught the ball with his left foot and hit a looping shot that was enough to get up and over the goal keeper and into the back of the net. A well deserved goal for a very hard working forward. After a few wides by both sides David Donnelly finished the first half scoring with a point after some good hand passing between himself and Sean Tyrell.

Half time:​​Donaghmore/Ashbourne 2.05, Dunshaughlin 0.04

Donaghmore made two changes at half time. Luke Wilson for Danny Deery and Sean Noone for Joe Magee.

Dunshaughlin came out fighting, winning the throw and scoring a point straight away. They followed it up with a dangerous high ball coming down onto Eoin Ryan in goals who tipped it over for  point. The atmosphere intensified and it was turning into a cagey affair. Over the next 7 minutes both teams kicked wides. Sean Tyrell had a great chance on goal when he won the ball on the right hand side of goal, threw a few dummies and took his shot on goal. Having bet the goal keeper the ball hit the post and came back out and into Dunshaughlins possession. Dunshaughlin came back with three more points in a row to narrow the gap to just 2 points.

Shane Rae came on for Rodney Jones and Simon Wilson came on for David Donnelly.

The Wilson brothers made a huge impact in the semi-final when they were introduced against Dunboyne. Were we going to see episode 2 of the Wilson Show? No sooner had Simon Wilson been introduced when he received a long ball from Luke Wilson in the box. He lined up for a shot on goal and taken down. The resulting penalty was put into the back of the net by Luke Wilson on 23 minutes. That was the first score for Donaghmore in the second half. After another point for Dunshaughlin Simon Wilson collected the ball on the D and put it straight over the bar with his left foot.

Cillian Hegarty was introduced for Jack McCarney.

Donaghmore played the possession game in the last few minutes of the game. Dunshaughlin took the last score of the game with a point to finish:

Donaghmore/Ashbourne   3.06, Dunshaughlin 0.11

The cup was presented by Conor Tormey to joint captains Jack McCarney and David Carr. Well done to the team and especially their mentors who put a huge effort in this year. Tom O’Connor and Greg Twomey.  

Team:

Eoin Ryan, Aaron McLoughlin, Rodney Jones, Scott Ward, Alan Murtagh, Jack McCarney, Thomas Cooney, Joe Magee, Killian Hogan, Cian Field, Danny Deery, Darragh Gleeson, David Donnelly, Sam Benville, Sean Tyrell.

Subs:

Alex Ward, Milo Connelly, Nathan McGrath, Alex Purcell, Sean Noone, Ruairi McCann, Oisin Gryson, Simon Wilson, Luke Wilson, Shane Rae, James O’Sullivan, Darragh O’Sullivan, Chris Twomey, Cillian Hegarty, David Carr, Matt Crumlish.

Published at: September 18, 2022 11:48