Ashbourne United third team into last Eight of the Frank Roe Cup
Ashbourne United third keep on pushing for honours this season and did so with a hard fought victory over Donamore Athletic. This was Ashbourne United second time playing Donamore this Season, the last time they meet was in the League which resulted in a one nil result for Ashbourne United. Ashbourne were without several regular players, Co- Captain Philly Simpson was absent through family commitments, Derek Snow his strike partner was away on personal business. David "Rocky" McKeon was out with the flu, so TC and Adam had to make a few changes.
Aidain Brett returned in goals, Paul Cullen and Daragh "one r" Doran was the right and left full's respectively, with Co-Captain Shane Byrne and James Deegan making up the Centre half position. Kevin McNany returned from injury to join Dave "Sammy" Ryan in the middle with Mark Beggy on the right and David Snow on the left; Jeff Cantwell and Eoin Riordan were the new look strike force.
The game started very scrappy with Donamore using long ball tactics and was very physical in the opening ten minutes which resulted in Derek Snow receiving a knock and Ashbourne having to make an early change moving Eoin Riordan back into midfield and bringing on David Lee to play alongside Jeff Cantwell. Ashbourne Second New Look strike force was causing Donamore problems but only when Ashbourne started to play football they looked the better size.
With Eoin back in midfield with Sammy, Ashbourne started to take control of the midfield and were starting to dominate. With Ashbourne starting to move the ball around better, Eoin Riordan broke free only to be fouled; the resulting free kick was taken by Eoin which hit the bar. It was a great strike and deserved to be a goal. The resulting corner from Ashbourne, the chance fell to Jeff Cantwell only to see his strike come back off the post. If had got up earlier his chance might have hit the back of the net.
The home side kept pressing with this they finally broke the deadlock through Jeff Cantwell. Eoin Riordan played in a superb pass to Jeff who beat the off side trap and took his chance well to give Ashbourne a deserved one nil lead just before the break. With this Ashbourne started to move the ball around better and created one more chance before the Half was over, another corner to the home side and David Lee saw his header hit the Cross bar and fall safely into the keepers arm.
The Second half started like the first half began, with Donamore quick out of the blocks looking to equalize. Again they kept on knocking high balls in, but James Deegan dealt with everything in the Air. Ashbourne defence stood firm at the start of the second half with James Deegan and Shane Byrne both dominating and also being well organised. The second half was very close with Donamore relying on long balls and then Ashbourne started giving away silly free kicks keeping themselves under more pressure.
With Donamore pushing for the equaliser, Ashbourne stood firm through all the pressure and at times the only outlet was Eoin Riordan and Jeff Cantwell, each player were causing Donamore problems. After some great work by Eoin beating two players down the right hand side he pulled the ball back, only for David Lee not to connect.
Ashbourne needed another goal to make sure the tie wouldn't go to extra time, and chances were now becoming few and fare between. The best chance falling to David Lee, after some good work from Kevin McNaney down the left hand side he cut the ball back to David Lee who missed Ashbourne best opportunity in the second half. Ashbourne went onto weather the storm against a very tough Donamore Athletic side that on the day couldn't break down the strong Ashbourne defence. Well done to the back four of Aiden, Shane, Daragh, James and Paul. Also to the hard work of Sammy who at the tender age of 39 ½ worked tirelessly in midfield with his helper Eoin Riordan.
Ashbourne now turn there attention back to the League with an away tie against Finglas Celtic on Saturday the 24th February 2007.
Team:
1: Aidan Brett, 2: Paul Cullen, 3: Daragh Doran, 4: James Deegan, 5: Shane Byrne,
6: Sammy Ryan, 7: Mark Beggy, 8: Kevin McNany, 9: Eoin Riordan, 10: Jeff Cantwell, 11: David Snow
Subs
David Lee > David Snow
Luke McGuiness
David Dowd
MOM: A tough one this week but the vote went to Jeff Cantwell, well done Jeff another goal to add to your tally this Season. Keep up the good work and for gods sake get out of bed on time for your Mammy!