Gaeil Colmcille travelled South of Meath to face Donaghmore/Ashbourne in the Division 1 Paddy O’Brien Cup in what was an unwritten Quarter-Final.
In the early exchanges both sides seemed nervous and it was the home side who scored first with a point. Gaeil Colmcille, playing against a stiff breeze hit two points in a row to take the lead after 8 minutes with midfielder John Gormley pointing two free kicks.
In the 11th minute, Kells broke from defence and Oisin O’Reilly pointed. Donaghmore/Ashbourne replied with a point of their own and when Gormley got his third free of the match the referee called a halt to the game for the first half water break with Gaeil Colmcille leading 0-04 to 0-02.
Time and time again water breaks have become so crucial in games and Donaghmore/Ashbourne got a lift and struck for goal from the restart despite Kells keeper Glen Gavagan pulling off a fantastic save, the follow up was palmed into the net.
Donaghmore/Ashbourne followed that up with four points in a row and it took another Gormley free to stop the rot, the free coming after what would have been an excellent goal when Jack Hogg ran the length of the field taking one-twos but his shot rattled the crossbar. The referee called back for the free of which he’d given advantage from the Hogg shot that Gormley then tipped over.
Donaghmore/Ashbourne closed out the half out with two more points to see them take a six point lead into the half-time break with a scoreline of 1-08 to 0-05.
Gaeil Colmcille knew if they were to get back into the game they’d need an explosive start and they got just that with three points in a row with the inform Gormley getting two points either side of a Liam Barry point.
With 39 minutes on the clock a well worked move the length of the field and Andrew Gormley had the vision to pick out Oisin O’Reilly to put him through on goal and the centre forward duly obliged to bring the sides level.
That would be Gaeil Colmcille’s last score for 18 minutes as Donaghmore/Ashbourne rallied off five points in a row to take control of the game as time ran into the closing stages. An impressive point from Kilian Kelly in the 57th minute couldn’t stop the Donaghmore/Ashbourne scoring and a goal on 59th minutes killed any hope of a victory as Donaghmore/Ashbourne booked their place in the Semi-Final.
Gaeil Colmcille: G Gavagan, F Tegetmeier, B Griffin, C Mitchell, T Anderson, K Kelly (0-01), L Barry (0-01), J Hogg, J Gormley (0-06), D Butler, O O’Reilly (1-01), C McGovern, A Gormley (0-01), O Walsh.
Subs: A Glynn, B Wearen.
