Updated: Wednesday, 3rd February, 2010 4:58pm

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Ashbourne out to late penalty

by Jimmy Geoghegan

Mullingar 21, Ashbourne 20

Gavin Kennedy was on the mark from penalty kicks for Ashbourne as they made a Provincial Towns' Cup exit against Mullingar on Saturday night.

After leading all the way Ashbourne endured a heartbreak finish to this Provincial Towns Cup encounter conceding a penalty in the dying seconds that scuppered their hopes.

Temperatures were below zero by the end of this clash at Mullingar on Saturday night and there was certainly little comfort for the visitors when all the action was over and it was time to seek some warmth.

As the game ticked into injury-time Ashbourne led by two points and looked to have done enough to secure a place in next round.

They were camped close to the Mullingar tryline seeking the score that would copperfasten their passage to the next stage.

Instead Mullingar broke upfield and launched a last desperate attack. They held onto possession through a number of phases and were awarded with a penalty kick.

Their winger and place-kicker Stewart Flynn did the rest, drilling the ball between the posts from the '22' and a little to the left of the posts to snatch a dramatic win for the Westmeath side.

The Ashbourne players had every reason to be distraught at the end as they had put in a hard shift, digging out two good tries from what were at best half chances.

They also did some heroic defending especially in the second-half when Mullingar laid siege to their line.

Yet it was not to be. Perhaps they should have expected the worst. After all it was in Mullingar that Ashbourne lost to Navan in the final of the 1999 Provincial Towns Cup suggesting that this is not a lucky ground for them.

Earlier in the season Ashbourne won the league contest between these two sides but only just and apparently with considerable fortune.

And in their warm up on Saturday evening Ashbourne's player/coach Jason Emery injured himself and had to cry off. An omen perhaps?

Ashbourne have a rule that any player who picks up a yellow card is not considered for selection the following week.

It's all part of a noble attempt by the club to instil discipline. Club officials, and no doubt the players themselves, will be disappointed by the fact that two of their best performers on Saturday - Christy Jordan and Alan Wall - were sinbinned.

Mullingar also lost their hard-running number eight Ray Murphy in a similar manner in the closing stages. Murphy was one of their best players and it was ironic that his team should conjure up the winning score in his absence.

Then there was also the concession of a string of penalties by Ashbourne during the course of the freezing evening. Most of them for offside.

This did nothing but undermine some of their best work and give their opponents the opportunity to stay in the hunt.

Certainly Ashbourne could hardly have asked for a better start to the evening when they powered over for a try after just seven minutes.

Winger Stephen O'Neill cleverly kicked ahead and found touch a few metres from the Mullingar line.

The home side won the line-out, but as one of their players attempted to clear his lines his shot was bravely blocked by Wall who managed to get a touchdown just before the ball went dead. Gavin Kennedy nailed the conversion with typical confidence.

Throughout the evening Kennedy and his half-back partner Cathal Field had caused numerous problems for Mullingar with little weaving runs from deep and it was no surprise that they were involved in the creation of both Ashbourne tries.

The second of those touchdowns came on the 28th minute mark. Field neatly kicked ahead from behind a ruck. A Mullingar player chased back to take possession on his own line. Danger looked to have been averted.

Instead Ashbourne's Sean Casey - who has also played Gaelic football for Offaly - tigerishly took the ball from his opponent's grasp and scored a try. Again Kennedy converted this time with a superb effort from the touchline. Between the two tries Kennedy also lofted over from a penalty attempt.

Those scores boosted Ashbourne to a 17-9 interval advantage but Mullingar kept in touch through Flynn's consistent kicking. At the break Mullingar brought on Shane Deering, son of former Irish international Shay Deering.

Just like they did at the start of the game Ashbourne scored soon after the resumption, Kennedy neatly splitting the posts from a drop goal.

The rest of the half was mostly played out in the Ashbourne half as Mullingar applied the pressure. It is a measure of Ashbourne's diligence in defence that the home side were unable to breakthrough for a try with Peter Swanipoel, Shane Eoin Kennedy, Jordan and David McManus just some of those who got in big hits.

Both Gavin Kennedy and Flynn spurned penalty attempts in the exciting, and often niggly, closing stages when Navan referee Paul Beggy had to keep a firm grip.

Mullingar were adept at moving the ball through the phases and Murphy and David Miller almost got through the Ashbourne defence.

Ashbourne's tendency to give penalties away proved costly no more so than in injury time when Flynn fired between the posts to give his side the narrowest of victories.

Mullingar - B Murphy, A Smith, N Smith, C Swanson, S Flynn, D Miller, D Butler; J O'Hara, R Collentine, A Farrell, O Kirby, V Hewitt, M Potter, P Gibson, R Murphy. Subs - S Deering for Swanson, B Brady for Gibson, A Kelly for Miller.

Ashbourne - D Colreavy, E Greene, S O'Neill, P Swanipoel, S Casey, G Kennedy, C Field; F Keegan, A Wall, C Jordan, S E Kennedy, E Gallagher, J Gavin, K Bolster, D McManus. Sub - A Gallagher for Keegan.

Referee - Paul Beggy (Leinster Branch).