Published: Wednesday, 17th February, 2010 4:55pm

Ashbourne denied again

by Jimmy Geoghegan

Mullingar 22, Ashbourne 10

David McManus rises high to claim possession for Ashbourne during Sunday's Towns' Cup tie.
Pic by==: 97

At the second time of asking hosts Mullingar made sure of their ticket into the next round of the Provincial Towns' Cup with this deserved victory over Ashbourne on Sunday.

It is a safe bet that Mullingar were seriously miffed by the fact that they had to play this game again. They had won the first tie by a point two weeks ago.

Ashbourne lodged an objection to the Leinster Branch claiming that their opponents had named seven substitutes instead of five as the rules stipulate. Leinster Branch upheld the objection, Mullingar in turn forwarded an appeal which was rejected.

Hence both teams had to do it all again on Sunday and right from the start Mullingar looked determined to make no mistake the second time around. They weren't short of motivation and it showed.

The Westmeath club have made big improvements to their ground in recent years, including the addition of floodlights. Without a stand it's still exposed to any biting winds that are blowing direct from the Arctic.

It wasn't quite that cold at the venue on Sunday yet the home of the Westmeath club proved to be anything but hospitable for the visitors once Navan referee Paul Beggy blew the whistle and the action got underway.

"This result didn't reflect the way our guys are playing," added Ashbourne's coach Jason Emery afterwards. "We're not too downhearted, we've got a young team and we're looking to the future."

Emery spoke about how his young side made too many mistakes against at highly experienced, efficient outfit who knew how to make the most of their opponents' weaknesses.

The indications were not good for Ashbourne from the start. The pressure was there from the kick-off and it wasn't any great surprise when, after some sustained pressure, Mullingar's Alan Kelly got through for a try after just six minutes.

Stuart Flynn missed the conversion although he did tag on a penalty soon after to help his side go in at the break with an 8-5 advantage. Gavin Kennedy also missed a penalty attempt for Ashbourne.

Both Flynn and Kelly were to go on and have major impacts on this game.

They broke through for second-half tries and with Flynn converting each of them the home side ensured they always had a comfortable cushion.

The two Ashbourne tries came from Sean Casey, the man who has played senior Gaelic football for Offaly. These days he's fully committed to rugby generally and Ashbourne specifically.

His opening touchdown just before the break came when a Mullingar pass was intercepted just outside Ashbourne's 10-metre line. Casey kicked ahead and started a chase between him and Mullingar's Ray Murphy for the tryline. Casey punted the ball forward a second time and it looked like Murphy might make it first until the Ashbourne player found another spurt of speed and won the race.

Just three points behind at the interval Ashbourne had every reason to be hopeful of bridging the gap. Instead they found themselves under a constant barrage in the second-half and only some heroic defending prevented their opponents from running in for more than the two tries they did score.

Ashbourne weren't as compact as their opponents in the set-pieces. Their scrum creaked alarmingly at times and conceded ground while Mullingar also won possession from their opponents' throw in. On one occasion Mullingar executed a strike against the head, a rare occurrence in the modern game.

All too often Ashbourne were preoccupied with their defensive duties particularly the knifing runs of number eight Ray Murphy and full-back Brian Murphy.

At times Ashbourne put together some enterprising moves. One of the most exciting came just before the end. John Gavin delivered a little kick ahead for Casey who was stopped just short of the line. The ball was moved through a number of phases with Gavin Kennedy, Stephen O'Neill and David McManus among those involved. Eventually the ball was sent out wide and Casey stole in at the corner.

The highlight of the closing minutes was a weaving run by Barry O'Neill. He was evenutally hauled down as Mullingar progressed to the next round.

Mullingar - B Murphy, A Smyth, N Smith, S Flynn, S Deering, A Kelly, D Butler; J O'Hara, R Collentine, A Farrell, O Kirby, V Hewitt, M Potter, P Simpkin, R Murphy. Subs - R Kennedy for A Smyth, S McGee for Glennon, B Brady for Farrell.

Ashbourne - B O'Neill, E Greene, S O'Neill, P Swanipoel, S Casey, G Kennedy, C Field; A Wall, J Gavin, F Keegan, S E Kennedy, Eugene Gallagher, D McManus, C Glennon, A Gallagher. Subs - D Colreavy for Glennon, C Boylan for Swanipoel, J Emery for A Gallagher.

Referee - Paul Beggy (Leinster Branch).

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