Naas make it eight-in-a-row after strong Maynooth challenge
Naas captain Conan Boran with the Tony Carew Cup
Maynooth brought the boisterous crowd, the physicality and the desire they knew would be necessary to dethrone serial winners Naas, but in the end even that wasn’t enough as the holders made it eight successive UPMC Senior Hurling Championships on the trot at a blustery Cedral St Conleth’s Park.
It was a fourth defeat in five finals against the Kildare kingpins for Maynooth but they’ll take some comfort from the manner in which they put Naas to the pin of their collar before a goalkeeping error helped the holders gain a winning foothold and two late goals put a flattering gloss on the scoreboard.
Under the tutelage of Clare legend Ollie Baker, Maynooth roared into this from the throw-in and with the strong breeze at their backs playing into the Kilcullen End, they looked like they were going to blast the form book to smithereens with five unanswered points in the first five minutes.
Naas were struggling for air as Martin Quilty, Tom Power (twice from frees), Cathal McCabe and Ciaran Dunne kept the umpire busy with white flags. Charlie Sheridan eventually nursed one over into the breeze and brother Jack added a free, but Harry Dunne picked up the scraps from a poor Cormac Gallagher puckout to put Maynooth 0-6 to 0-2 ahead with eight minutes gone.
A scoreless spell of eighteen minutes from that point onwards would prove hugely detrimental to Maynooth’s hopes of a shock. They registered five wides in that period, dropped two short and saw another blocked. Incredibly Maynooth racked up 17 wides by the end of the game though Naas were only marginally better with 13 including four during that same eighteen-minute period when they were having great difficulty sizing up the wind.
Simon Leacy had the measure of the elements all day though and he managed to register the only score during that period, going on to land four in all in a man-of-the-match display from midfield.
Naas felt they should have had a penalty on 22 minutes when a monstrous Gallagher puck-out carried further than anyone expected into the grasp of Leacy and he sent Jack Sheridan through, the star forward appearing to be fouled but referee Brian Kearney deeming it to be a case of over-carrying.
Power landed a beauty, fed by Conor O’Grady, to bring their scoreless spell to an end but Jack Sheridan’s free and another beauty from Leacy saw Naas within two points at the interval (0-7 to 0-5) despite being some way below their normal standards.
After some robust play saw McCabe and Charlie Sheridan take heavy hits, tempers boiled over with an unsavoury incident on the way to the dressing rooms. Jack Sheridan ended up on the deck and when Naas substitute John McKeon decided to enter the fray, he was on the receiving end of a red card. Maynooth’s Martin Quilty was yellow carded by Kearney on the resumption for his part in the incident.
Putting that behind them, it only took Naas three minutes after the restart to get on level terms thanks to two Jack Sheridan points.
Maynooth needed a lift and Power brought the biggest roar from their sizeable support when landing a magnificent point from near the sideline under the stand despite being under significant pressure.
But disaster struck the challengers on 38 minutes. Goalkeeper Seán Bean ventured out on a solo run but was pick-pocketed by Cathal Dowling, who was unerring with his finish to the net from an acute angle.
That put Naas two ahead and the air hissing from the Maynooth balloon was almost audible. Jack Sheridan with a free and another beauty from Leacy drew a defiant response from McCabe’s free from inside his own half but Peter O’Donoghue struck back to give Naas a 1-10 to 0-9 advantage at the three-quarter mark.
Power narrowed the gap to three with thirteen minutes left from a close range free but Sheridan’s free and James Burke’s first point of the day, having been well marked by Ronan Dunne, stretched the lead to five.
Kevin Dunne lashed over Maynooth’s last score with two minutes remaining and a four-point gap would have been a fair reflection on the play.
But Naas whipped out the paintbrush and added the gloss. First Brian Byrne, who like Burke had struggled to impose himself, got the ball to the left of the posts and squeezed his low shot past Bean with a minute of normal time remaining.
Then, as the clock ticked over sixty minutes, two substitutes combined with Cian Boran feeding Fionn Maher, on the field less than a minute, to bury the third goal past Bean.
Leacy, fittingly, had the last say and the last point as Naas marched on to yet another local triumph before setting their sights on Leinster. They’ll need to improve but should benefit from one of the toughest battles they’ve had within the county for a few years.
For Maynooth, attention turns to the football decider next week against Sarsfields.
Cormac Gallagher; Liam O'Reilly, Rian Boran, Evan O'Brian; Daire Guerin, Conan Boran, Harry Carroll; Peter O'Donoghue 0-1, Simon Leacy 0-4; Oisin O'Neill, Cathal Dowling 1-0, Brian Byrne 1-0; Charlie Sheridan 0-1, James Burke 0-1, Jack Sheridan 0-6 (5fs). Subs: Cian Boran for C Sheridan (temp 16-19), Cian Boran for Dowling 44, Fionn Maher 1-0 for O’Neill 60.
Sean Bean; Cian Brody, Ronan Dunne, Matt Eustace; Cian Forde, Cathal McCabe 0-2 (1f), Cormac Nolan; Harry Dunne 0-1, Dan O’Meara; Oran Byrne, Martin Quilty 0-1, Ciaran Dunne 0-1; Tom Power 0-5 (3fs), Conor O’Grady, Tadhg Forde. Subs: Kevin Dunne for Byrne 50, Conall Knox for Quilty 56, Kevin Carroll 0-1 for R Dunne 58, Luke Murnane for T Forde 61.
Brian Kearney.
