Ashbourne bidding for All-Ireland title

When a team, in whatever sport, has a chance to win a national title it has to be considered a big deal - and invariably it's a rare opportunity to grab the limelight.

Ashbourne players, officials and supporters will travel to Donnybrook on Saturday, 2.30pm for the All-Ireland Junior Cup final where they take on Enniscorthy, a club that they have wrestled with in various competitions in recent years.

Back in 2014 Ashbourne won the Provincial Towns' Cup for the first time and on the way to that success they defeated Enniscorthy in the semi-final before getting the best of Kilkenny in a low-scoring decider.

Since then, however, the Wexford side has held the upper hand.

Last season in the All-Ireland Junior Cup Ashbourne were defeated by Enniscorthy at the quarter-final stage with the team from the Model County going on to win the competition.

This season the teams have met twice in the Leinster League Div 1A and on each occasion Enniscorthy have prevailed although as Ashbourne's decidated, stalwart club official Bill Duggan pointed out, in those two games Ashbourne scored seven tries yet still ended up losing out - 19-28 away and 32-40 at home.

A statistic like that hints at another aspect of Ashbourne's season that has left them in the middle of the Leinster League Div 1A table - inconsistency.

While they managed a healthy quota of tries against Enniscorthy they still lost out where it mattered most - on the scoreboard.

This nagging, undermining inconsistency was also highlighted in recent weeks in two sharply contrasting league games. In their first match back in 2017 Ashbourne handed out a 29-3 thrashing to DLSP. Then they followed that up a week later by losing 14-18 to Monkstown at home.

It has been that kind of season for the Milltown side. One week they have produced swashbuckling rugby, the next they have committed a string of unforced errors and paid the price. Injuries also have not helped.

Those involved with Ashbourne will be hoping that Saturday will be one of the team's 'good days.'

Ashbourne have reserved some of their best performances this season for the Junior Cup and if they are to win the final they will have defeated teams from all four provinces.

They have already accounted fo Westport away (28-10) Bandon at home (33-8) and Ulster side Clogher Valley at home (20-19). Now Enniscorthy await.

The All-Ireland Junior Cup was first played for in 2006 and has been won by teams such as Enniscorthy, Dundalk, Tullamore, City of Derry, Rainey Old Boys, Seapoint and, in 2008, Navan.

Under coach Peter O'Donnell, a former Old Belvedere player, Ashbourne have already won the McGowan Cup this season defeating Dundalk in the final, but a national competition like the Junior Cup obviously presents a much more formidable challenge.

Duggan points to the fact that the bulk of the current squad is made of players such as Jake Wall, Alan Wall, Sean Kent, Jeff Mahon and Danny Norton, who are from the Ashbourne area ensuring there is a strong connection with the local community.

Others such as Casey Dunne, Simon Deevey and club captain Donal Crotty are from outside the area, but have in recent years become synonymous with Ashbourne rugby.

Crotty is back in the team after a long spell out through injury while also back in the frame in recent games is the indomitable Mahon who spoke of retirement some years ago, but is still going strong, driven ever on by his love of the game.

Ashbourne have never won the All-Ireland Junior Cup and having broken the Provincial Towns' Cup hoodoo in 2014 they will be looking to add this trophy to their collection.

The evidence would suggest that Enniscorthy should go into Saturday's game as strong favourites , but there is always the possibility that Ashbourne will produce one of their better performances of the season and go home with the silverware.

'It would be a huge achievement for us to win the Junior Cup, it gives the players a chance to perform in a big-stadium environment,' added Duggan.

'We have already won the McGowan Cup, but this is about stepping up, moving on. We've had our difficulties in terms of putting together a consistent run this season, but this is cup rugby, a one-off and you never know what might happen.'