Blackhall Gaels 1-08  Donaghmore Ashbourne 1-06

Blackhall Gaels recorded their first win in this year’s Intermediate Football Championship with a 2 point win over Donaghmore/Ashbourne in Dunshaughlin last night in front of a nice sized crowd.

The game was played in beautiful conditions in Dunshaughlin with a dry ball and a small breeze blowing into the school end. The game was played at a tempo.

Blackhall Gaels got off to the perfect start in the first half with Alan Nestor scoring a free to open his and Blackhall Gaels account. But Blackhall would have to wait almost 20mins for the next score as Ashbourne raced into a 1-01 to a 0-1 lead. Blackhall Gaels missed an awful lot in this first half and would accumulate 8 wides for the half and 13 wides in total for the match.

Blackhall Gaels did get a vital goal, Midway through the second half when Donnacha Healy was fouled in  the large square to win the Gaels men a penalty that was duly dispatched in too the top left corner of the net by Alan Nestor. Blackhall would continue to spurn chances and a 5 minute blitz just before half time saw the Donaghmore Ashbourne outfit go in at half time 1-4 to 1-1 up.

Half Time score Blackhall Gaels 1-1 Donaghmore Ashbourne 1-4.

The second half saw much more exuberant Gaels team come out for the second half and they set about making hay. Blackhall decided to push up Ashbourne and really press them and this worked extremely well for Blackhall as they were able to restrict Ashbourne to just 2 points for the whole of the 2nd half.

Blackhall played with a lot of control n the second half and controlled the tempo in the 2nd half and dictated how the game was going to play. This was largely thanks to good ball carrying runs by Stephen Morris wing forward, Donnie Tobin in midfield and Tom Murphy who continued cause Ashbourne all sorts of problems.

Blackhall were duly rewarded for their position with a number of Alan Nestor frees and a fine effort from ever present and willing Charlie Staunton from wing forward. Blackhall would continue to force tempo and with their backs well on top of the Ashbourne forwards Blackhall looked like they would be able to keep the opposition forwards quiet apart from 2 points early in the second.

As time continued to to k away Blackhall found themselves still 2 points down with ten minutes to go but the mood was always that the victory was in touching distance and the Gaels men never panicked and we’re able to kick 4 unanswered points in this time 2 coming form the boot of the ever present Alan Nestor who had a mixed day on the frees, as well as a fine left footed free from Paddy Brady to put the Gaels on top for the first time since the 1st minute. The game was wrapped in the 2nd minute of injury time when tireless John Kelly notches a fine point to force Ashbourne into scoring a goal if they wished to win this game.

It was a great team effort for the Gaels. Some of the players that really led the team in the second half was the ever present Donnacha Tobin in midfield who continued his good form and win plenty of ball in the middle of the field. Stephen Morris worked extremely hard at wing forward and played like a real playmaker linking the backs and forwards. John Kelly who was named at corner forward was incredible and I’m not sure if their was anywhere the man wasn’t on the Dunshaughlin pitch. Other notable performances we’re Hugh Smith at full back and Tom Murphy at wing back.

Blackhall scorers: Alan Nestor, 1-05(1-0pk, 0-5frees), Paddy Brady, 0-1(0-1free), Charlie Staunton, 0-1, John Kelly 0-1.

Blackhall Gaels: 1. Tommy Dalton, 2. Conor Delaney, 3. Hugh Smith, 4. Adam McHugh, 5. Paddy Brady, 6. Shane Whitty, 7. Tom Murphy, 8. Paddy O'Brien, 9. Donnacha Tobin,  10. Stephen Morris, 11. Alan Nestor, 12. Charlie Staunton, 13. Donnacha Healy, 14. Johnathon Myler, 15. John Kelly. Subs: 17. Dylan Cranley for Myler 20 mins.

Donaghmore Ashbourne Report

Donaghmore Ashbourne intermediate team took on Blackhall Gaels in this first round IFC match in Dunshaughlin.

Blackhall scored first landing a ’45’ within a minute. Donaghmore Ashbourne got going with a goal after 5 minutes. A good team effort allowed Killian Hogan to drift in and catching a pinpoint pass on the edge of the square made no mistake. Scores were hard to come by as both teams battled hard for possession. Cathal Field pointed on 14 minutes but then Blackhall broke downfield and were awarded a penalty. The well struck penalty gave Jack Hannigan no chance in goal. Leo Reilly pointed on 20 minutes and Luke Wilson pointed from a narrow angle a minutes later. Cathal Field landed a point a minute before the break for Donaghmore Ashbourne to go in at half time 3 points up, 1-4 to 1-1.

Luke Wilson pointed a free within a minute of the restart and it looked like Donaghmore Ashbourne were ready to press on but Blackhall Gaels roared back and started to dominate the game, using their experience, their strong running created scoring chances. Unlike the first half where they were wasteful of some opportunities, they made no mistake, landing a free on 36 minutes. They followed up with a point and then another free on 42 minutes narrowed the gap to one. Luke Wilson pointed another free midway through the half but Blackhall Gaels responded with a free of their own. They started to dominate and scored another from play on 51 minutes. This was followed by a close in free which lifted their team and as time was running out a Donaghmore Ashbourne attack broke down and from that Blackhall pointed to seal the game.

Donaghmore Ashbourne will look back on the game as an opportunity missed as they played well for a lot of the game but Blackhall had a bit more in the tank to finish out the game.

Final score: Blackhall Gaels 1-08 Donaghmore Ashbourne 1-06

Donaghmore Ashbourne: Jack Hannigan, Gareth Deery, Jason Boland, Chris Twomey, Dylan Cassidy, Tadg Kelly, David Carr, Killian Hogan (1-0), Chris Brady, Cathal Field (0-2), Leo Reilly (0-1), Kevin Fenton, Shane Rea, Kevin Lanigan, Luke Wilson (0-3, 2f).

Subs used: Simon Wilson for Lanigan, Donagh O’Donnell for Field, Stephen Fenton for Cassidy

 

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