Naas hold off late Moorefield surge to claim opening round win
Alex Beirne was top scorer for Naas as they began their Senior Football Championship campaign with win over Moorefield Photo: ©James Lawlor
Naas were pushed all the way by a late Moorefield rally before emerging with a two-point victory in opening round in Group D in the Joe Mallon Motors Senior Football Championship in Cedral St Conleths Park on Friday evening.
When Euan Cowzer and Ciaran Doyle both scored their second points of the game in quick succession to leave Naas 0-18 to 0-10 ahead in the 57th minute, it appeared that new manager Jimmy Higgins would have a very comfortable introduction into life in the Kildare Senior Football Championship.
However, instead, he got a warning of the depth of quality that is in Kildare football, especially when up against a team renowned for their resilience and doggedness like Moorefield.
Much has changed about football in the last few years so it was good here to see that there is still a place for a big man on the edge of the square. The introduction of the towering Dan O’Callaghan on the edge of the square caused chaos and the only regret that Moorefield manager Frank Hanniffy might have after this was that he didn’t roll that dice a little earlier.
O’Callaghan went to the skies to claim a mark in front of the Naas goal after a well judged ball by Ryan Moore. O’Callaghan went for goal from the 20 metre free but although Naas cleared that one away, just a minute later O’Callaghan had another chance from 20 metres.
Again, his effort was saved. Mark Dempsey then had two bites of the cherry in the ensuing scramble before Aaron Masterson eventually volleyed home.
That unsettled Naas a little and shortly after, they switched off as Evan O’Brien prepared to take a free and instead of putting it over the bar, he played it backwards to Aaron Martin who was unmarked from two-point range and he sent his shot soaring through the posts.
That left the game up for grabs and in the last attack of the game, O’Brien shot for an equalising goal and it needed a save from Luke Mullins to prevent the Newbridge side from drawing level. Play was brought back for a foul in the build up to that shot and from a good distance out, Kevin Murnaghan tried his luck but his shot was deflected over and Moorefield’s gallant effort fell short.
Such a nervy finish did look likely for the majority of the game as Naas dominated proceedings. They made a flying start when Alex Beirne scored a two-pointer after just 45 seconds and Kevin Cummins and Darragh Kirwan added further points before three minutes were on the clock.
When Beirne kicked his second two-pointer from a free and Kirwan added a two-pointer of his own in the 15th minute, Naas were 0-8 to 0-3 ahead.
They stretched that lead out to 0-11 to 0-4 by half-time but as efficient as they were in attack, it was their tenacity and organisation in defence that really caught the eye and the Moorefield attack was left to feed on scraps, even though they won a lot of possession off their own kick outs.
O’Brien scored the first point of the second-half but Naas could have been more comfortable had Kirwan been awarded a penalty for a tug by Mark Dempsey as he shot, he certainly seemed to have a case but referee Kieran Harris wasn’t interested.
Mark Murray pulled back another point for Moorefield but Naas then hit back through Kirwan and Dermot Hanafin.
That set the tone for the majority of the remainder of the game. Moorefield doing enough to stay in the game but Naas keeping them at arm’s length.
Beirne was close to a goal for Naas with ten minutes to go when he flashed a shot across the face of the goal after some enterprising play in the build-up.
O’Brien’s 55th minute free left six points in it and kept Moorefield on the heels of Naas but the game looked over after Doyle and Cowzer fired over. It wasn’t the case, though, and Moorefield made things very awkward before the win was eventually confirmed.
Down the road in Manguard Park, there was also late drama in Group A when an injury-time Connor Flynn goal earned Johnstownbridge a 1-15 to 2-12 draw against Clane.
Luke Mullins; Daniel Lenehan, Brian Byrne, Jack McKevitt, Rob Murray, Cathal Daly, Paddy McDermott 0-1; Paul McDermott, Conor McCarthy; Dermot Hanafin 0-1, Darragh Kirwan 0-5 (1tp, 1f), Kevin Cummins 0-1, Euan Cowzer 0-2, Alex Beirne 0-6 (1tp, 1tpf, 1f), Ciaran Doyle 0-2. Subs: Rob Fitzgerald for Murray, 48; Elliott Beirne for Cummins, 53; Tom Kelly for Hanafin, 60; Daire Guerin for Cowzer, 60+2 Tom Kinsella; Liam Callaghan, Mark Dempsey, Sean Dempsey, Tommy McGrath, James Murray, Anthony Durney; Cian Moore, Aaron Masterson 1-1 (1’45); Eoin Meehan, Kevin Murnaghan 0-2 (1f), Mark Murray 0-2 (1f), Evan O’Brien 0-4 (3fs), Ryan Moore 0-1, Tommy Rooney 0-1. Subs: Dan Hanniffy for C Moore, 36; Luke Sweeney for Meehan, 45; Aaron Martin 0-2 (1tp) for Rooney,51; Dan O’Callaghan for M Murray, 56.
Kieran Harris.
