Ashbourne and Instonians scrum down in today's game.

Ashbourne fight back to earn dramatic draw

Despite trailing 14-24 after 62 minutes Ashbourne hit back to earn a draw (24-24) with Ulster side Instonians in the AIL Round Robin series at Ashbourne today.

In an extremely physical, full-on encounter the Meath side showed real character to recover from a slow start to earn a draw with Ciaran Roche going over for a late try. 

It looked ominous for the home side early only as they trailed 0-10 after just 13 minutes with Ben Alexander going over for a converted try for Instonians with Frazer Wright adding the extras. Wright scored from a penalty soon after to put the Ulster side in a strong position. 

Eventually Ashbourne started to move the ball through the phases and they were rewarded for good approach work when Sean McKeon went over for a try converted by Casey Dunne. The visitors hit back with a converted try to leave it 17-7 at the break. 

Ashbourne controlled most of the second-half as their forward power told with Adam Martin getting a try converted by Dunne. Instonstians worked another converted try but late touchdowns by Colm Craigie and Roche saved Ashbourne. The last two conversions were missed by Dunne but Ashbourne still had every reason to be happy, especially with their second-half display. 

See full match report and pics in this week's Meath Chronicle