Naas CBS leave Birr empty handed despite strong second half showing
Fionn Frisby fires over one of the most impressive points of the game during their defeat to St Brendan's
A strong second half comeback by Naas CBS fell just short this afternoon in Birr as they lost out in this battle to top Group 2.
Although the game was played in perfect conditions without any wind interference, it was the stereotypical game of two halves.
Naas CBS were off the pace in the first half and were 0-16 to 0-4 behind at the break but were vastly improved in the second half. They were far more competitive in the physical exchanges but in the end just ran out of time after leaving themselves too much to do.
St Brendan’s laid down their authority in the early minutes and Naas found it very hard to shift momentum back in their favour.
The Offaly school went into a 0-5 to 0-1 lead but a superb long range effort by Fionn Frisby was followed by a Tom Boran free to leave two between the teams after 12 minutes.
The flurry of scores proved all too brief for Naas and they spent much of the remainer of the half on the backfoot as the lively St Brendan’s forward line interchanged impressively. Indeed, things could have been worse for Naas only for a couple of excellent save by their agile and alert goalkeeper Fionn Kelly.
The half time break gave Naas a chance to regroup and a chance for their management team, which included Kildare hurler Cathal Derivan, to pass on their messages.
It didn’t have an immediate impact and at one stage St Brendan’s had stretched their lead out to 13 points but a scrambled effort in the goalmouth where half back Oisin McAfee seemed to get the final touch to the force the ball over the line in the 40th minute sparked Naas into life.
There some wides that they would later rue but their second goal arrived ten minutes when a good counter attack was finished off well by Tom Boran.
Their best goal came in the 57th minute when Patrick Stewart beat his man and fired a shot high into the net. That left seven points between the teams and Naas went on to score the last three points of the game but in the end, they had left themselves with too much to do and St Brendan’s top the group.
Despite the defeat, Naas finish second in the group and qualify for the preliminary quarter-finals.
Kieran Coughlan; Philip Larkin, Michael Dooley, Darragh Carty, Ben Younge, Barry Bennett, Joey McLoughrey; Sean Carthy 0-3 (1f), Jack Collins; Harry O’Sullivan 0-2, Noel Standish, Tom O’Dwyer 0-3 (1f), Eddie Carty 0-9 (6fs), Andrew Hogan 0-5, Ruairi Pilkington 0-2.
Fionn Kelly; Rian Cramer, Colin Parker, Cathal Griffin, Toby O’Loughlin, Oisin O’Neill, Oisin McAfeee 1-0; Rian Curran 0-1, Sean Gavigan; Conor Crowley, Fionn Frisby 0-1, Luke Connolly 0-3 (2f, 1’65), Sean Higgins, Tom Boran 1-6 (6fs), Patrick Stewart 1-0. Subs: Fergal Cramin for Crowley, h/t; Ronan O’Malley for Frisby, h/t.
