Final step just too much for Meath side

It’s rare that a rugby team - in whatever league, at whatever level - doesn’t go through a season without experiencing some turbulence or other.

Even the most successful, most powerful teams, experience set backs. Alternatively, it’s rare that a side that is struggling doesn’t have at least one or two days in the sun.

Few however, experience the kind of sharply contrasting fortunes Ashbourne encountered during the 2021/’22 rugby season.

They started their campaign badly, hit by a spate of injuries and couldn’t buy a win until just before Christmas. Then they put a good run together and hauled themselves away from the relegation zone, stitching together a string of victories along the way to finish fourth and a place in next season's All-Ireland Junior Cup.

In the Towns’ Cup they also put together a sustained run. Eventually they made it to Sunday’s final. A glorious conclusion to the season beckoned. Then, on the big day, it all went horribly awry as Kilkenny won with relative comfort.

Gavin Kennedy has certainly known many of the great occasions for Ashbourne RFC in their recent history. He was captain when they won the All-Ireland Junior Cup in three successive occasions, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

So he knows what’s involved in getting himself and the team ready for the big days. On Sunday he thought Ashbourne were ready. They had, after all, trained well, looked at the opposition, worked out a strategy. They had even tapped into Sean Boylan's experience in preparing teams for finals.

The former Meath manager was asked to speak to the players a few days before the decider. Also as part of the pre-final routine Rory Gleeson - who was captain when Ashbourne won their one and only Towns' Cup in 2014 - presented each of the players with their jerseys for the big day. All seemed ready.

Then, in the decider Ashbourne, mysteriously, they lost their way, becoming bogged down in trying to grapple with a Kilkenny side who possessed some powerful runners who were adept at breaking the first tackle. The Cats were undoubtedly the kings of the hard yards and it proved to be a big factor in helping them claim the glory.

Players who have played well for Ashbourne in recent weeks just don’t perform on Sunday. They didn’t get the breaks or the bounce of the ball. When Ashbourne needed some inspiration from somewhere the gods looked the other way. Little they tried worked out.

“It was one of those day,” was how Kennedy described Sunday’s game before going on to outline how his team started slowly; how Kilkenny landed some early knock-backs and left his team resembling a title contender who had a plan all worked out in his head until, that is, the first blow was landed. Until reality struck.

“A tough day at the office,” he added to emphasise the point. “It was just one of those days that happens in sport.”

If Ashbourne had a topsy-turvy season so did Kilkenny who needed to win their last league game of the season, ironically against the Meath side, to stay in the Leinster League Div 1. They did just that and pushed on to win the Towns’ Cup for the first time in 20 years on Sunday with a powerhouse performance Ashbourne simply couldn’t match – especially in the second-half. By the closing stages Kilkenny were dominant in both loose play and the tight.

Kennedy looked back on his team’s madcap season which had as many ups and downs as the famous Cu Chuillann ride at Tayto Park.

Considering the trouble and turbulence they had endured early in the season Ashbourne - Kennedy readily pointed out with justification - did well to turn things around. They did well to secure fourth place in the league table and get to a Towns’ Cup final - they just couldn't take the extra step.

That, Kennedy suggested, was something the Ashbourne players can be proud of in a season of real highs and lows. They can be proud of the fact that in the long losing streak they endured before the turn of the year players stayed focused on turning things around rather than simply, well, simply giving up.

Reaching the Towns’ Cup final was for Kennedy a triumph in itself; a manifestation of his team’s refusal to be bowed down by the many slings and arrows of misfortune.

“Getting to a Towns’ Cup final is something that is not an easy thing to do, some teams never get to a final so I think considering the way we started the season, the way we just couldn’t get a win, we did well to end up where we did.

“After getting fourth place in the league anything from there was a bonus. Then you start to get a little greedy, you put a good run together in the Cup, you get into a final. Of course you want to win the cup, we didn’t but I’m still very proud of the lads and the way they had a very good second half to the season. We could have given up at Christmas, we could have accepted our fate, suffered relegation and gone down a level. We didn’t.

“Instead we regrouped, we just dug in and that’s what it is all about, staying in the game, never giving up until all hope is gone. It’s important to stay battling.”

Kennedy says with the season over Ashbourne will rest, "assess the situation" and get ready again for the next campaign.

The Ashbourne scrum-half has been on the road now for 13 years playing senior rugby with Ashbourne. He recognises new blood may be needed to reshape and refresh the team as it looks to the future.

Incredibly Kennedy felt that even the conditions seemed to conspire against Ashbourne on Sunday. Kilkenny had the help of a breeze in the opening half. He felt that breeze then “turned” and diminished in strength.

As he said. It was just one of those days for Ashbourne on Sunday.