Trim 2-13 Donaghmore Ashbourne 2-11

Trim travelled to Drumree on Wednesday evening to play Donaghmore/Ashbourne in this eagerly awaited championship second round fixture. 

The management team of Kenny Morgan, John Leonard and Rory Dowling had to reshuffle their squad due to holidays and injuries. They fielded a very experienced team with an average age of thirty. The management team had obviously done their homework on the Dublin border club as they deployed one sweeper for the full match, veteran John McMorrow playing this roll with brilliant affect.

Derek Donohue returning to the red jersey after an absence of five years did not take long to get himself on the scoreboard. He kicked two brilliant points in the first three minutes to give his team an early lead. It was refreshing to see that Trim were adopting a old way of playing football, move the ball quick to midfield and then hit Donohue long and high. Don/Ash got back on level terms by the eight minute with two nice points. Veterans Brendan Murphy and Mark Gilsenan were pulling all the strings around the middle of the park and a defence splitting pass in the tenth minute to youngster Sean Thornton who gained possession of the ball ten yards out, he turned onto his trusty left boot to blast a great shot past the keeper. The team in green then realized that they were in for a battle and responded immediately with a unanswered goal and five points. 

Trim were now on the back foot and were three points behind. Murphy gained possession from a kick out, passed to Ryan Andrews who found Pauric Payne who then passed to Thornton who was fouled in the big square. A penalty was awarded and up stepped Gilsenan to take the spot kick. Every Trim supporter in the large attendance knew exactly where the ball was going into the bottom right hand corner of the net. Gilsenan did exactly this and was coolness personified as he trotted up to strike the ball. The sides were level but once again the Reds conceded a goal straight after they had scored one. 

Half Time Score : Trim 2-3 Don/Ash 2-6

The second half begun exactly as the first half had with the Derek Donoghue firing over two points in the first three minutes. Just one point between the team now. The Trim management made a very tactical switch at half time putting Thornton in the goals and bringing Conal McGrana up into the full forward line. Conal was put into the forward division to help out Donohue and this nearly paid rich dividends in the thirty fourth minute when he got onto a break from Donohue and unleashed a shot at the Don/Ash goals only to see his shot go narrowly wide of the post. The Moores got a point on the board but then the Reds went on a scoring spree adding six points with just six minutes of normal time to play. Don/Ash got a couple of points back but with sixty minutes played they were still three behind. The match was now in 4 minutes of additional time and oily two points separated the teams but the experienced Trim side held out to record their second victory and finished in style with a Mark Gilsenan point.

Trim: Conal McGrana, Jamie Hackett, Fadd Kelly, Andy O'Brien, Jamie Lee (0-1), Darragh Kennedy, John MacDonaldish (0-1), Brendan Murphy, Pauric Payne, Mark Gilsenan (1-5), Ryan Andrews (0-2), John McMorrow, Sean Thornton (1-0), Derek Donohue (0-4). Subs: Demo Dempsey for McGrana 45 minutes. Shane Callaghan. 

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