Summerhill 0-17
Donaghmore/Ashbourne 2-8

Summerhill out-pointed Donaghmore/Ashbourne in this Meath Farm Machinery SFC Group C first round fixture at Dunshaughlin on Sunday afternoon.

With Donaghmore/Ashbourne's second-half recovery running out of steam, Summerhill secured the spoils by posting five of the last six scores.

Summerhill bossed the early exhanges and with Sean Dalton showing well in attack lead by 0-6 to 0-2 at the end of the opening quarter.

With Conor Gillespie prominent at midfield, Mattie Kerrigan and Pauric Lyons' charges continued to dominate and eased to a 0-11 to 0-3 interval advantage.

The pendulum swung Donaghmore/Ashbourne's way on the restart and the east county side were boosted when Andrew Tormey slotted a penalty kick - awarded for a foul on Niall Farrell - to the Summerhill net.

When Tormey added a point, the gap was down to three points, 1-5 to 0-11. Then Danny McShane came to Donaghmore/Ashbourne's rescue when saving a Stephen Kennedy penalty at the expense of a '45'.

Then it was Summerhill 'keeper Tony McDonnell's turn to keep out a goal attempt from Eoin Reilly in the 39th minute to prevent Donaghmore/Ashbourne from gaining parity.

Summerhill were struggling to find the rhythm of the opening-half and with under ten minutes remaining Donaghmore/Ashbourne were just two points in arrears, 1-7 to 0-12, when Eoin Riordan landed a free from out on the right.

Paul Larkin (three) and Brian Ennis (two) moved Summerhill six points clear as the hour ticked into stoppage time.

David Morgan got in for his side's second goal but it arrived too late save Donaghmore/Ashbourne from defeat.

A pointed free from Michael Byrne got Summerhill off the mark in the second minute and Stephen Kennedy doubled their advantage from play.

Tormey pulled a point back for Andy McEntee's men but Summerhill kicked on and were 0-5 to 0-1 ahead ten minutes in with Sean Dalton registering twice.

Summerhill - T. McDonnell; C. Young, A. Kenny, R. Hatton; P. Rispin, M. O'Reilly, D. Dalton; C. Gillespie, D. Byrne; M. Byrne (0-3, 2 fs), B. Lyons (0-1), B. Ennis (0-2); S. Dalton (0-4), P. Larkin (0-4), S. Kennedy (0-3, 2 fs).

Donaghmore/Ashbourne - D. McShane; M. Roche, C. McGill, S. Curran; C. Ellis,
C. O Mealoid, T. Kelly; R. O'Connor, B. Menton; E. Riordan (0-1, free), E. Reilly (0-1), A. Tormey (1-3, 1-0 pen, 0-1 f); D. Morgan (1-1), R. Maguire (0-1), N. Farrell (0-1).

Referee - S. Gallogly (Dunshaughlin). Tweet

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