Éire Óg Greystones see off flying Ashford in Under-13 ‘A’ football final

Ashford 0-11

Éire Óg Greystones and Ashford served up a well contested and enjoyable Under-13 ‘A’ football final at Rathnew GAA grounds on Sunday morning last, October 15.

The game was played in good, sunny conditions even if the first grass frost of Autumn left a bit more moisture around than players would like.

The opening half was evenly balanced with Éire Óg just shading matters on the scoreboard to lead by one point at the half-time break. The Greystones side enjoyed a much better second half but were unable to shake off an Ashford team who stayed competitive until the final few minutes, when Éire Óg finally pulled away to win by six points at the end.

The standard of play generally was quite good from both sides in the opening half. Both teams transferred the ball quickly from end to end and both sets of defenders were hard to unlock.

Kale Conyard put Ashford into the lead with a point from play early on. Éire Óg full-forward Aaron Byrne, who had a fine game all through, responded with the only goal of the game in the third minute and then pointed from play to leave the score at 1-1 to 0-1 six minutes in.

Jack McCloy responded with a pointed free for Ashford. Aaron Byrne got on the scoreboard again. Two Kale Conyard points before the end of the opening quarter reduced the Éire Óg lead to the minimum as the Ashford lads began to enjoy a greater share of the spoils in the middle third of the field.

Sam Conyard brought the side level with a point from play and the same player put the black and amber into the lead with his second point on 22 minutes.

However, the impressive Cillian Walshe levelled matters again for Éire Óg and two further scores from Aaron Byrne and Joey Grogan left the Greystones side two points to the good as half time approached.

However, a Rhys Behan point for Ashford reduced the lead to the minimum at half-time: 1-5 to 0-7.

Cillian Walshe, who went on to give a man-of-the-match performance for Éire Óg in the second half, increased the lead immediately on the restart.

The Greystones lads became a little more dominant in the middle third of the pitch with Rory Coyle, Sam Walshe Cillian Walshe, Cillian McInerney and Danny Howard very prominent.

However, they were wasteful with their chances and Ashford, with less chances, were hanging in there. Rory O’Gorman reduced the lead back to a point, but Cillian Walshe responded for Éire Óg. Danny Howard and Stephan Barry increased the lead to 0-4 as a little bit of daylight came between the two sides on the scoreboard.

Sam Conyard from a free and fine save from Jayden Healy kept Ashford hopes alive. In a breakaway attack from Ashford, it took a good save from Shane O’Dowd between the posts for the Greystones lads to prevent Ashford getting right back into the game.

In the final quarter, Éire Óg slowly began to pull away, even though they still had their misses. They added points from Danny Howard (3), Cillian Walshe and Max Kennedy.

Ashford responded with two further scores from Sam Conyard frees to leave Éire Óg clear winners on a final score of 1-14 to 0-11.

This was a fine game of football between good footballing teams with Éire Óg eventually pulling safely ahead in the final few minutes.

Harry Murphy of Rathnew presented the winners trophy to Éire Óg captain Cillian McInerney while Cillian Walshe received the man of the match award.

Éire Óg Greystones: Shane O’Dowd, Cillian Gallery, Roddy Thompson, Conor Byrne, Stephan Moran, Rory Coyle, Sam Walshe, Sal Maxwell, Danny Howard (0-4), Cillian McInerney, Jake Somers, Aaron Byrne (1-3), Niall Barry (0-1), Cillian Walshe (0-4), Daniel Keaveney, Joey Grogan (0-1)

Ashford: Jayden Healy; Jack McCloy (0-1), Daire Kenny, Conor Meade, Sean O’Donnell, Tommy Byrne, Rhys Behan (0-1), Sam Conyard (0-5, 3f), Kale Conyard (0-3), Noah Clarkson, Rory O’Gorman (0-1), Ollie Behan, Joe Harte, Rian Gledhill, Max Kennedy, Ben O’Sullivan.

Referee: Nick Nolan (An Tóchar)