Competition, Venue, Date, KO Time: Leinster League Division 2, At Ashbourne, Sunday 3.00pm kickoff

Gorey arrived in Ashbourne on a mission to secure 4 points and gave Ashbourne the fright of their lives. Scrapping home by a point allowed Ashbourne to get back on the winning trail after the disappointment of last week and maintain second place in Division 2.

On a dark and dreary afternoon Ashbourne took the field with the hope re-finding their form. They started well and the ball was moved around in a professional manner but with little to show. Gorey possess a lethal weapon in their Fijian centre and he showed touches of his class standing up many attempted tackles. But they are not one dimension and they have a very athletic backrow who were causing trouble.

That said all the early chances came to Ashbourne, and Casey on the left wing, continues to grow in confidence. He was tackled into touch just short after about 15 minutes having broken a couple of tackles and handing off would be tacklers. He touched down a few minutes later running on to a Kennedy kick through only to be adjudged to be ahead of the kicker.

Ashbourne took the lead in the 25th minute from a Kennedy penalty, and on the stroke of half-time Stephen O'Neill, showing some quality touches was high tackled in front of the Gorey posts, and again Kennedy slotted home the kick. The tackler from Gorey was also sin binned. Ashbourne turned 6 nil up.

The easiest way to sum up the second half was that it was all Gorey on attack and some excellent defensive play from the home side. The one man advantage should have spurred on the home side, but if anything it gave new life to Gorey.  Christy Jordan retired injured at the break, being replaced by Alan Wall. The scrum was solid throughout the game, but Wall brought that extra spark into the set piece and he had his opposite number in trouble. McManus worked well with Shane Eoin Kennedy in the second row, and Ciaran Glennon, back from an injury lay-off showed signs of getting back to his destructive ways at 7.

But it was all defence and Gorey as hard as they tried did not break the try line till the 22nd minute. They missed the crucial conversion and this was decisive in the end. The last 10 minutes was played in the Ashbourne 22, with Gorey knowing that a win would take them away from relegation territory. A missed penalty and a brilliant hussle on the Gorey number 10 by Gavin Kennedy prevented a score that seemed inevitable.

When the final whistle sounded there were shouts of joy for the home side, but they were as much in relief as anything else. A win is a win and onwards and upwards.

Full-Time Score:

Ashbourne   .............. 06
Gorey    .............. 05

Best for Ashbourne:
Alan Wall, Ciaran Glennon, Gavin Kennedy, Cathal Field

Man of the Match:
David McManus

Penalties:
Gavin Kennedy x 2

Team List:
Barry O'Neill, Dermot Colreavy, Eric Greene, Stephen O'Neill, Sean Casey, Gavin Kennedy, Cathal Field, Frank Keegan, John Gavin (Capt), Christy Jordan, David McManus, Shane Eoin Kennedy, Stephen Magee, Ciaran Glennon, Jason Emery

Subs: Alan Wall, Keith Kennedy, Wayne Mitchell, Darragh Hanratty, Eugene Gallagher

Note: As of now Ashbourne are scheduled to replay the Provincial Towns Cup against Mullingar next Sunday, in Mullingar, at 3pm. Mullingar were found to have had a violation of the number of subs named and in fairness the Branch have ordered a replay. This is currently under appeal and a decision will be available on Thursday. Notification of the decision will be on the club website on www.ashbournerugby.ie