Feis Cup Final 28th February at 8pm in Ashbourne
H/T Donaghmore/Ashbourne 0-6 Gaeil Colmcille 0-5
F/T Donaghmore/Ashbourne 1-9 Gaeil Colmcille 2-9
It was a game of 2 halves tonight in Ashbourne as Beano said in his acceptance speech. Donaghmore/Ashbourne seemed to be the better team in the first half but unfortunately didn’t make it count on the score board. Donaghmore/Ashbourne fielded a very young team with 3 of last years minors starting. They will be disappointed tonight that they couldn’t finish the job and win the Feis Cup but experience won out in the end with Gaeil Colmcille controlling the 2nd half and probably should have won by more but for the great work from the Don/Ash backs with Evan Quinn starting at full back with James Redmond and Oisin Daly each side, and our wing forwards tracking back to help out. Darragh O’Sullivan opened the scoring with a point from play after just 3 minutes, AJ Tormey no relation to the Donaghmore Tormey’s scored a point from play to make it 1pt each. Young Michael O’Sullivan not to be out done by big brother got the 2nd point after good work from Shaun Byrne who passed to James Crumlish who gave a great cross ball into the arms of Michael O’Sullivan. Bryan Menton pointed from play having received a pass from Dylan Brady. Gaeil Colmcille got 3 points from frees Seamus Mattimoe off his left and 2 from goalkeeper Barry Farrelly. Meanwhile James Crumlish and Leo Reilly kept the score board ticking over for the home side on a lovely night for football. With 25 minutes gone it was 5pts to 4pts for Don/Ash who were playing some good football. Kevin Cully was his usual hard working self and contributed hugely in helping Don/Ash stay ahead in a tough battle against seasoned campaigners. Jordan Muldoon closed the scoring in the first half with a point from play for the Kells men before Jamie Browne scored a point from a free to leave Don/Ash just 1 point up at the break. Unfortunately Leo Reilly who had been playing really well got a black card 28 minutes into the match. Eoin Ryan in goals pulled off a great save from a dangerous high ball just before half time.
It took Donaghmore/Ashbourne a while to get going and had to play with just 14 men for the first 8 minutes of the 2nd half because of black card. Gaeil Colmcilles dominated the third quarter with a goal from Ryan Farnham just 2 minutes gone, followed by 2 points from frees and another from play from Beano. It was all going the visitors way and they scored their 2nd goal after Eoin Ryan had saved but the ball bounced around the goalmouth and wasn’t cleared before Fionn Reilly finished to the net. It was now 2-8 to 6points and Kells probably would have said it was over as a contest but to the credit of Don/Ash they never gave up. Aaron McLoughlin carried some good ball into the forwards but unfortunately we didn’t make good use of it. Josh Lancaster was introduced for Darragh O’Sullivan, Andrew Tormey carrying an injury from Friday night’s match came on for young Aidan Mackey who worked extremely hard on his 2nd start for the seniors. Dylan Brady scored a great point with 22 minutes gone in 2nd half, followed by a free from Jamie Browne and another launch from out the field from Brady to bring it back to 5 points. Conal Courtney finished the scoring for the eventual winners with a point from play to make it 2-9 to 9pts with the clock ticking down. Sam Benville came on for Michael O’Sullivan and Evan O’Kane was introduced with just minutes left for James Crumlish. In injury time Andrew Tormey caught a high ball and was taken down in the box for a penalty. He finished to the back of the net but unfortunately it was too late as the whistle was blown straight away. It will be a learning curve for these young men who went out against an experienced Gaeil Colmcille side who won this trophy for the fourth time in eight years. Conor Tormey presented the Trophy and complimented both sides on a good sporting game of football. There will be no rest for either side as they are both out in the A leagues this weekend with Don/Ash hosting Dunshaughlin under lights on Friday night at 8pm.
Don/Ash:- Eoin Ryan, James Redmond, Evan Quinn, Oisin Daly, Aidan Mackey, Shaun Byrne, Aaron McLoughlin, Kevin Cully, Bryan Menton (0-1), Kevin Cully, James Crumlish (0-1), Darragh O’Sullivan (0-1), Leo Reilly (0-1), Michael O’Sullivan (0-1), Jamie Browne (0-2 2f), Dylan Brady (0-2).
Subs:- Josh Lancaster for Darragh O’Sullivan, Andrew Tormey (1-0 p) for Aidan Mackey, Sam Benville for Michael O’Sullivan, Evan O’Kane for James Crumlish.
Main sponsors McCarney Financial Services Ltd.
