Ashbourne students foiled by Castlewellan again

Ashbourne Community School were denied an All-Ireland Vocational Schools" SFC title by a much stronger and more fluent St Malachy"s, Castlewellan at O"Moore Park, Portlaoise on Saturday evening. Played in front of a good-size crowd and with the TG4 cameras rolling for the second instalment of a double header, the Vocational decider did not provide the same amount of drama and excitement as the All-Ireland Colleges" final where St Mary"s Edenderry lost the title with the last kick of the game. Ashbourne coach Joe Gibney didn"t have any complaints about the result although he was disappointed to lose an All-Ireland final. 'They were fitter, more physical and a tougher team, that"s it, plain and simple, no complaints, we just weren"t able to match them when they ran at us,' he told the Meath Chronicle minutes after the final whistle. 'We weren"t strong enough, we weren"t fast enough, we were closer to them last year, but the fact is that they"re a good team. 'We played as well as we could, even when we had the extra man for a brief period it didn"t make too much difference, we didn"t get the ball into Andy Tormey often enough, they were worthy winners,' he concluded. The fact that two Leinster teams were beaten by Ulster opposition may be an indicator of where the main adult inter-county football trophies will end up this year? There was never too much doubt about the outcome of this game as Ashbourne attempted to avenge a defeat by the same opposition at the penultimate hurdle 12 months ago. The only difference this time around was that Castlewellan had more to spare at the end of 60 minutes which produced eight yellow and two red cards and about a dozen ticks (black cards). There was ample evidence to support the ratification of the current experimental rules which will be decided by the GAA"s annual congress next weekend. However, there was nothing untoward about any of the challenges, but many of them were of the cynical variety. Also, the tendency of the large contingent of Castlewellan supporters to jeer the Ashbourne players when the opportunity arose didn"t reflect well on them or their school. That Castlewellan deserved to win is not in doubt and they deserve great credit for taking back-to-back titles for the first time in the history of the school, a fine achievement. Ashbourne were under early pressure with Cian Maguire picking up a yellow card inside 60 seconds. Castlewellan"s Jarlath Branagan pointed the resultannt free. Branagan was on the mark again from another free as the Ashbourne boys appeared to wilt under an early onslaught. However, Andrew Tormey got the Meath students off the mark in the fourth minute with a well-taken point following a good move which involved Phelim Dowling and Andrew O"Brien, but when Gavin Kennedy received a tick (black card) soon after it suggested that Ashbourne were struggling to cope with the pace of the game. That turned out to be a very accurate assessment for the remainder of the half as Castlewellan dictated in most departments. The reigning champions displayed plenty of promise as they established a 0-9 to 0-4 interval advantage. Branagan added two more pointed frees while Danny Savage and Conor Poland each added a brace from play with Conor Morgan completing their first-half tally, also from play. Tormey claimed another point for the Meath boys and Liam Tolan also hit the target with a superb point from play in the eighth minute and a free at the end of the first-quarter. Ashbourne coach Joe Gibney introduced substitutes Colin O"Sullivan for Devine and Ian Kavanagh for O"Connor at half-time, but matters failed to improve and Castlewellan added three quick points in as many minutes. Gerard McAnulty, Branagan and Paul Devlin all sent over from play to extend the lead to eight points, 0-12 to 0-4, within five minutes of the resumption. Tormey eventually got Ashbourne on the scoreboard again from a 13-metre free which was awarded after a Castlewellan defender was penalised for over-carrying. Soon after Castlewellan were reduced to 14 players when wing-back Ollie McClean collected a second yellow card. That changed the pattern of the game, but did not seriously impact on Castlewellan"s superiority and they were still in control with a 0-13 to 0-7 advantage when Ashbourne lost Kennedy who was red-carded for a high challenge. That virtually finished the game as a contest and Castlewellan played out the remainder in Ashbourne"s half where they kicked some terrible wides, but could afford that luxury as they had laid the foundations for success in the opening half. St Malachy"s Castlewellan - M O"Boyle; C Burns, D O"Hanlon, R McDonald; S Tierney, C McClean, O McClean; G McAnulty (0-1), R Laughlin; P McKenny, J Branagan (0-5), C Morgan (0-1); P Devlin (0-3), Danny Savage (0-3), C Poland (0-2). Subs - C Regan for Morgan 47mins; Darren Savage for Danny Savage 54m; B Murray for McDonald 57m; S Rea for O"Boyle 58m; C McCusker for O"Hanlon 59m. Ashbourne CS - Liam Hogan (Curraha); Daryl Lawlor (Donaghmore / Ashbourne), John Fahy (Fingal Ravens), Robert O"Connor (Donaghmore / Ashbourne); Cian Maguire (Donaghmore / Ashbourne), Phelim Dowling (Curraha), Dermot Brennan (Skryne); Bryan Menton (Donaghmore / Ashbourne), Stephen Kavanagh (Donaghmore / Ashbourne) 0-1; Liam Tolan (Skryne) 0-2, David Coyle (Curraha), Andrew Tormey (Donaghmore / Ashbourne) 0-4; Matthew Devine (Donaghmore / Ashbourne), Gavin Kennedy (Donaghmore / Ashbourne), Andrew O"Brien (Ballymun). Subs - Colin O"Sullivan (Donaghmore / Ashbourne) for Devine, Ian Kavanagh (Donaghmore / Ashbourne) for O"Connor, both half-time; O"Connor for Maguire 52 mins. Referee - Maurice Condon (Waterford)