Naas begin life after Murphy with stylish win
Clane's Cian Shanahan gets a tackle in on Naas' Tom Kelly Photo: Sean Brilly
Highly-impressive Naas put the departure of three-in-a-row winning manager Joe Murphy behind them with an emphatic first win of the Hanlon Concrete Ltd Senior Football League over a disappointing Clane outfit in Conneff Park on Saturday evening.
With Murphy taking the reins of his native Carlow, Pádraig Cribben took charge temporarily for Naas pending a permanent appointment and he would have been delighted with a fluent attacking display from a team who had only picked up one point from their opening two games.
Previously unbeaten Clane meanwhile, with former Naas manager Paul Kelly in charge, struggled with their kick-out, particularly into a strong breeze in the first half, with Naas dominant around the middle and the home side couldn’t cope with the fast, direct running of the likes of Elliot Beirne and Dermot Hanafin.
Kevin Cummins was another to cause Clane problems, with a ten-point haul including a superb two-point free from well outside the arc, and he opened the scoring with a close-range free. Adam Fitzpatrick was a lively performer in attack for Clane and he responded with two points.
Two fine scores from Hanafin sandwiched one from Clane midfielder James Dolan and at three-points apiece after nine minutes it looked as though we were in for a competitive game.
But a minute later Naas got in for the only goal of the game, from which they never looked back. The two Hanafin brothers set up Paul McDermott to finish to the bottom corner of Hugh Muldoon’s net.
Shane McCormack hit back with a free for Clane but that big two-point free from Cummins kicked off a scoring spree of five points in eight minutes with the speedy Beirne registering two to add to another from Cummins and a lovely left-footer from Dermot Hanafin.
That made it 1-9 to 0-4 after twenty minutes and although Shane O’Sullivan responded with two frees and Caolan Smith added another, Naas finished the half on top with Dermot Hanafin and Cummins adding their fourth and fifth points respectively to send them in 1-11 to 0-7 ahead.
The second half was something of a procession with early Clane wides ruining their hopes of a comeback. Naas tacked on six more points (Cummins with four of those and Beirne and Sean Hanafin with the others) before centre-back Hugh Prendergast ended twenty minutes without a score for the home side.
Naas didn’t let up, adding six points to Clane’s three by the finish with that man Cummins bringing his tally to ten, Beirne adding his fourth, Sean Hanafin his second and Tom Kelly and Leo Kennedy getting themselves on the scoresheet. O’Sullivan provided the only resistance for Clane with three points including a two-point free.
Jack Rodgers; Conor McCarthy, Mark Maguire, Jamie McGuirk; Tim Ryan, Eoghan Prizeman, Daniel Lenehan; Eoin Doyle, Paul McDermott 1-0; Tom Kelly 0-1, Dermot Hanafin 0-4, Elliott Beirne 0-4; Kevin Cummins 0-11 (1tpf, 7fs), Sean Hanafin 0-2, Colm Joyce. Subs: Drew Costello for Joyce 51, Conor Breen for Beirne 56, Lee Kennedy 0-1 for McDermott 56, Shane Gibbons for Kelly 59, Nicholas Sweeney for McGuirk 59.
Hugh Muldoon; Conor Walsh, Shane McCormack, Paddy Connolly; Stephen Brereton, Hugh Prendergast 0-1, Cian Shanahan; James Donlon 0-1, Seán Dunne; Killian O’Sullivan, Shane McCormack 0-1 (f), Caolan Smith 0-1; Shane O’Sullivan 0-5 (1tpf,3fs), Adam Fitzpatrick 0-2, James Behan. Subs: Oisin Tighe for Behan HT, Tadhg Montgomery for Dunne 42, Danny Egan for K O’Sullivan 48, Shane O’Connor for Fitzpatrick 48, Eoin Twohig for Brereton 55.
Henry Barrett
