St. Michaels 0-20, Donaghmore Ashbourne 1-14      

St. Michaels booked a place in the division 3 final when they registered a hard earned three point victory at the expense of Donaghmore Ashbourne in a very competitive match in ideal conditions in Carlanstown on Tuesday evening last.     

The assured ball striking of veteran Daithí Regan propelled the Carlanstown Kilbeg side into the final, in fact Regan's contribution of 0-8 (4 frees) made him the danger-man in a hard working forward unit that blossomed under the lights of the Carlanstown pitch, with Ronan Lynch ably assisting him with a haul of six points with five other players also getting on the scoresheet over the hour.

The home side began the scoring with Regan pointing impressively from distance before adding another two a couple of minutes later. Donaghmore Ashbourne also added three points in the opening five minutes. Points from Ronan Lynch, Ben Reilly and Regan gave the home side a 0-7 to 0-3 lead at the end of the first quarter. The hard working Lee Morris sent over a brace of points which was soon cancelled out by the visitors who were now firing on all cylinders and they sent over another three unanswered points to trail by just one after 26 minutes. St. Michaels settled again and points from Lynch (2) and Paddy Tobin (1) gave them a 0-12 to 0-09 interval lead.   

Regan opened the second half as he did the first with 3 points in the opening 13 minutes, however Donaghmore Ashbourne were more productive in that same period adding 5 points to trail by just one entering the final quarter. However St. Michaels dug deep and their defence led by the experienced Daithí O'Reilly and Philip Rogers who were a great influence on the young defenders around them shut up shop on the visitors only allowing them in for one more score albeit a goal on 55 minutes. Substitute 'keeper Jamie Farrelly brought off some fine saves in that final quarter as St. Michaels closed off their scoring with some fine deliveries from Kevin Cassidy, Adam O'Brien (0-1 each) and Ronan Lynch (0-3, 2f) to seal a deserved victory. Others to impress over the hour were Harry Dunne, Mark Stafford, Ciaran O'Reilly and Scott Doyle.

St. Michaels team & scorers: Gavan Sweeney; Harry Dunne, Daithí O'Reilly, Scott Doyle; Adam O'Brien (0-1), Philip Rogers, Ben Reilly (0-1); Mark Stafford, Ciaran O'Reilly; Paddy Tobin (0-1), Ronan Lynch (0-6), Thomas O'Brien; Ben Farrell, Daithí Regan (0-8), Lee Morris (0-2). Subs: Jamie Farrelly for Sweeney 24 minutes injured, Kevin Cassidy (0-1) for T. O'Brien 39 minutes, Rory O'Driscoll for Farrell 45 minutes, Eamonn Coughlan for Regan BC 52 minutes, Paddy Callaghan for Rogers 53 minutes, Jason O'Donnell for Tobin 57 minutes.                        

Referee: Paul Mooney.

Report: Pascal Reilly PRO.

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