Champions cruise to another win
Neil Aherne gets the shot away despite pressure from Sarsfields defence Photo: Aisling Hyland
Naas made it three out of three with a comfortable five point win over Sarsfields in Round 3 of the Joe Mallon Motors SFC game.
It was far from a vintage Naas performance but with a quarter final place already secured they will be happy to have prevailed.
Sarsfields were poor by their standards and two first half points won't cut the ice if they are to proceed. They lost Tadhg Hoey late to a second yellow but it mattered little.
Naas led 0-7 to 0-2 at the break Alex Beirne with two and Darragh Kirwan with three were the scorers in chief in response to two Sarsfields frees from Callum Bolton and Barry Coffey Luke Mullins with a fifth minute free and a Ryan Sinkey mark completed the Naas tally and even after 30 minutes they were comfortable. The introduction of Ben McCormack on 21 was shortlived as he got a black card four minutes later.
Alex Beirne brought his tally to three inside a minute of the restart but while two Shane Doyle frees did reduce the gap to four Sarsfields were yet to score from play. McCormack made his return on 35 but it failed to ignite Sarsfields. Kirwan and Beirne added their fourth points of the game and although Shane Doyle did point from play on 38 the door had been firmly shut on the Sash.
Late frees from Shane Doyle and Barry Coffey were enough to see Sarsfields finish second in the table.Naas continue to roll on and on all know evidence you have to fancy them to go all the way.
Luke Mullins 0-1(1 free), Cathal Daly, Mark Maguire, Rob Fitzgerald, Brian Byrne, Eoin Doyle, Eoin Lawlor, Ryan Sinkey 0-2 (1 mark), Sean Hanafin, Alex Beirne 0-4 (1f), Tom Browne, Paddy McDermott, Darragh Kirwan 0-4 (2fs), Dermot Hanafin, Neil Aherne 0-1. Subs: Tim Ryan for Lawlor, 51; Kevin Cummins for Aherne, 52; Brian Kane for McDermott, 58; Fintan Quinn for Browne, 60.
Marc Courtney Byrne, Alan Scully, Tom Aspell, Sean Campbell, David Shalvey, Daragh Ryan, Colm Harnett, Callum Bolton 0-1(1 free), Matty Byrne, Con Kavanagh, Ethan Montaine, Shea Ryan, Karl Hartley, Shane Doyle 0-4 (3 frees), Barry Coffey 0-2 (2 frees). Subs: Ben McCormack for Harnett, 21; Cian Byrne for Campbell, 46;Tadhg Hoey for Aspell, 51; Ben Loakman for Doyle, 51; Conor Hartley for Ryan 60.
Billy O'Connell.
