Naas firm in second half to book last four spot in Towns Cup
Ryan Casey controlling things for Naas as he breaks away from the scrum
Naas qualified for the semi-final of the Bank Of Ireland Provincial Towns Cup with a 19-7 success over Dundalk last Sunday afternoon.
Naas played with the advantage of a strong breeze at their backs in the first half, but credit must go to a resolute Dundalk defence who stood firm and repelled everything that was thrown at them in the first 15 minutes. Indeed it was the visitors who came closest to opening the scoring after 21 minutes, when their driving maul powered over the Naas line, but they were unable to ground the ball.
After 26 minutes the deadlock was finally broken, when a superb break by Ethan Travers created space out wide for Derry Lenehan who finished in style. Peter Osborne added the conversion.
The lead was doubled after 37 minutes. Peter Osborne sliced through the Dundalk defence and when he was hauled down just short of the line, the ball was quickly recycled and moved out wide to David Butler to score. Although the conversion attempt by Peter Osborne was off the mark Naas now led by 12 points to nil, which proved to be the interval score.
Dundalk got a dream start to the second half by scoring within two minutes. Samanoa Euta received a ball on half-way, he put a kick in over the heads of the Naas defence and won the race for the touchdown. Ultan Murphy added the conversion.
However despite having the strong breeze at their backs Dundalk struggled to many any further inroads, and Naas dominated the remainder of the game. This dominance was rewarded after 50 minutes when Ryan Casey picked from the base of a 5-yard scrum and took play right up to the Dundalk line. The ball was then quickly moved out to Ethan Travers who side stepped an attempted tackle to score. Peter Osborne added the conversion to make it 19-7 to Naas.
That proved to be the last score of the afternoon as Naas easily saw out the remaining 30 minutes without any hiccups to deservedly book their place in the semi-finals of the Bank Of Ireland Towns Cup.
Peter Osborne, Derry Lenehan (capt), David Butler, Tom Bohan, David O'Sullivan, Ethan Travers, Cormac King, Callum Coyne, Fintan O'Malley, Patrick Brophy, Cillian Dempsey, Paddy McMahon, Jack Rogers, Mikkel Andressen, Ryan Casey.
Tadgh Dooley, Patrick Stapleton, Jason Cutler, Muiris Cleary, Conor Butler, Sam Dunne, Andy Carroll.
Bradley Nealon, Robert Williams, Luke Andrews, Ultan Murphy, Deshawn Ighodaro, Conor Hennessy, Darragh Conroy, Conor Williams, Puru Aboagye, Darragh Maher, Joshua O'Hare, Fiennes Duffy, Philip Shekleton, David Feenan, Tierney Gonnelly.
James Canning, Simon O'Shea, Tadgh King, Ciaran Lennon, Luke McDonough, Jonathan Williams, Samanoa Euta.
