Narrow victory for Ashbourne

BECAUSE of heavy frost there was some doubt about this Leinster League Div 2 game, but after an inspection the green light flashed and Ashbourne did enough to claim victory. With both sides feeling their way into the game, there was little drama or excitement early on. The Ashbourne pack was on top in the set pieces and both teams embarked on a kicking duel. The first breakthrough came in the 10th minute when Ashbourne were awarded a penalty on the 10-metre line which Bryan Donnelly confidentially slotted between the posts. Ashbourne, who were missing a few members of the pack from the previous week welcomed back Ollie Ennis into the front row and he gave a man-of-the-match display while Stephen Magee made his debut on the first team at blindside wing-forward. Andy Munn showed up well in the early exchanges however, he struggled with an injury and switched to the wing with Dermot Colreavy slotting in at full-back. The play was disjointed, but Ashbourne struck with their first try when, from a Mullingar line-out, Ashbourne"s pressure caused a ball to be played back to the home full-back, who knocked on. From the ensuing scrum Phil Hall broke towards the line, but was held up. Eoin Kennedy, Donnelly, Matt Ward and James McCaghy were all involved in a move that ended with Dermot Colreavy breaking the line to score a fine try. Donnelly converted. Mullingar struggled to get their game going and the next scoring chance came to Ashbourne when Donnelly hit a penalty which had been awarded for a high tackle on Ciaran Glennon. This was the start of a poor period for the visitors. Shane Eoin Kennedy was sin-binned along with the Mullingar hooker and worse was to follow when Mullingar converted a penalty in injury-time. Shortly afterwards Glennon joined Kennedy on the sideline for 10 minutes. They were penalised for interfering as Mullingar attempted to take a quick penalty. At the break the visitors led 10-6. Down to 13 men Ashbourne started the second-half under a lot of pressure. The visitors had given Mullingar hope and they saw an opportunity and Ashbourne needed to defend well. Restored to 14 men, Donnelly kicked deep into the corner. McCaghy chased and nearly charged down the clearance, but the ball went into touch and from the Mullingar throw, Mahon stole the ball and from the ruck and maul, Hall touched down for his team"s second try. Donnelly slotted over the two points to stretch Ashbourne"s lead to 17-6. For the next 25 minutes it was all Mullingar and they registered two tries and one conversion to edge one point in front, but Donnelly did well to slot over from a penalty soon after and that turned out to be the winning score. Ashbourne - A Munn, D Colreavy, M Ward, P Mullen, E Conaty, B Donnelly, K Kennedy; C Jordan, J McCaghy, O Ennis, S E Kennedy, J Mahon, S Magee, C Glennon, P Hall. Subs - E Greene for Mullen, K Bolster for Glennon, E Gallagher for Magee, S O"Neill for Kennedy, Portlaoise 12 Navan 15 Navan maintained their unbeaten record in the Leinster League Div 1 against Portlaoise on Sunday, but they had to use their 'get out of jail" card to secure victory and extend their lead at the top of the table. Portlaoise were awarded a penalty after seven minutes and out-half Richard Deihl put them into an early three-point lead, he converted another penalty soon after for a 6-0 advantage. Navan recovered sufficiently to lead by 9-6 at the interval after Ryan Roberts converted three penalties Soon after the resumption Navan were penalised for not releasing the ball in a ruck and Portlaoise kicked a third penalty to level the game at 9-9. Two minutes later, following a late tackle on a Portlaoise player, Navan conceded yet another penalty within kicking distance and Portlaoise made the most of the opportunity to move back into a three-point lead. With the game entering the final quarter, there was a suggestion that Navan may have been about to relinquish their unbeaten record however, when Portlaoise conceded a penalty for not releasing the ball after 65 minutes, Roberts levelled the game once again When Navan were awarded another penalty five minutes later within kicking distance, Roberts became the hero of the day putting his side into the lead with his fifth successful kick to leave the score at 15-12. One of the few Navan players who performed well was hooker Johnny Baker who came on for the second-half and created problems for the Portlaoise pack. The victory against Portlaoise ends Navan"s most successful pre-Christmas league campaign which has seen them score more tries (33 in nine games) and points that any other team. They have conceded only four tries (less than any other team) and that form leaves them seven points clear of their nearest rivals. Navan kick-off the new year with a game in the All-Ireland Junior Cup and they resume their league campaign on Sunday, 11th January. Navan - E King, C Brady, D King, B Harris, J Duffy, P. Fenney, T Clarke, B Smyth; C Mattson, R Roberts, S Hogan, M. Harrington, S Donnelly, R Conaty, K Manning. Subs - J Baker for C Brady, S Dawson for P Fenney, E Dunne for E King, S Dawson for B Harris. PROVINCIAL SECONDS Portlaoise 13 Navan 12 Navan dominated the first-half and were rewarded when Ciaran Joyce crossed for the opening try. Brian McCormack missed the conversion from the sideline. Although Navan dominated play in the first half they failed to convert this dominance into points and Portlaoise scored a penalty goal to leave the visitors 5-3 ahead at the break. Navan continued to play well in the second-half and when Richie Ball crossed for their second try, McCormack made no mistake this time with the conversion. The game should really have been Navan"s, however a lack of concentration in the final closing stages allowed Portlaoise cross for a converted try to leave just two points between the sides. Just before the final whistle Portlaoise were awarded a penalty which they successfully converted putting them into the lead. Navan - D Dixon, R Reilly, E Hanratty, A Kennedy, B Connolly, R Ball, N Finley; D McDonald, C Reilly, B McCormack, C Joyce, R Duane, F Hennessey, A O"Keeffe, J Finnegan. Sub - D Harlin for C Reilly. McGEE CUP North Meath 29 Ashbourne 15 They may be still in their infancy, but North Meath continued to make huge waves in the rugby pool following their McGee Cup victory over hosts Ashbourne on Friday evening. The win was the fledgling club"s eighth consecutive victory in the competition and they continue to grow in confidence. Friday"s game was a tough encounter, but after enduring an early onslaught, tries from Denis O"Neill, Simon Deevey (two), Shane Flood and John Dalton secured the bonus point victory for the newest rugby club in the county. North Meath - B Mooney, G Hickey, C Galligan, W Monaghan, S McManus, P Beggan, D Callaghan, A McEntee, C O"Brien, C Finn, S Deevey, D O"Neill, R Dillon, P Butler, R Newman. Subs - I Doogan, S Flood, J Dalton, B Smith. SCHOOLS St Patrick"s CS, Navan 10 Newpark 5 St Patrick"s CS, Navan advanced to the Leinster Schools Junior Cup semi-final with a narrow victory over a talented Newpark side at Castleknock. The Navan school dominated the early stages and went close to touching down with great efforts from Akhlaque Khan and Thomas Cox. Liam Bourke made the breakthrough on the half hour mark with a fine try, and despite the missed conversion St Patrick"s took a 5-0 interval lead. Bourke doubled St Pat"s advantage with a second try following excellent work by Mark Gardiner and while Newpark did get in for a consolation try it had no adverse effect on the final outcome for the Meath school. St Patrick"s - B Clarke, A Keating, D Clarke, T Cox, B Cunningham, S Keelan, M Clarke, A Khan, M Gardiner, L Bourke, A Moran, C Smyth, C Oginni, P Meade, V Moore. Sub - F Clarke for Bourke.