Big task ahead for Coill Dubh
Ferran O'Sullivan (Naas) is tackled by Coill Dubh's Mark Byrne and Declan Flaherty when the teams met in the Cleaning Legends Division 1 final last June Photo: Sean Brilly
It’s pretty much as expected so far for Naas in this year’s UPMC Senior Hurling Championship as they prepare for Saturday’s semi-final against Coill Dubh.
Even without high profile injury absentees James Burke, Richie Hogan and Conan Boran, and with county men like Daire Guerin and Simon Leacy yet to feature in this year’s Championship, Tom Mullally’s team have strolled into the semi-finals looking as imperious as ever.
They were slow to get going in the preliminary round against Coill Dubh as their huge raft of county players returned to club action but once they had ran that dirty diesel out of them they flew through the group stages and beat Confey, Celbridge and Éire Óg Corra Choill with a score difference of +72.
It’s extremely hard to find holes in the Naas team and with Fionn Maher and Charlie Carroll among the goals in their last game against Éire Óg Corra Choill, it seems that the conveyor belt of young talent coming through the club is showing no signs of slowing down.
It all points to an ominous task for Coill Dubh, but they will go into the game with the knowledge that they were the last team to beat Naas when they won the Division 1 league title at the end of June.
Their stunning comeback in their quarter-final against Celbridge shows that they have the stomach for the fight, as if that was ever questioned, and they will take great belief from that.
Paddy Kelly’s team are backboned by the experienced cohort of Johnny Byrne, Mark Delaney, Mark Grace, Declan Flaherty and Eanna O’Neill but far from winding down their careers, they are still the driving force for their team.
They will know that they can’t afford to allow the Naas forward line the kind of space that Celbridge enjoyed for the opening half of that quarter-final but on the flip side of that is the likes of Dylan Brereton and Conor Gordan really stood to be counted to help turn that game in their team’s favour.
All in all, it’s nearly impossible make a case for anything other than a Naas win but that’s just the kind of talk that a Coill Dubh side with nothing to lose will relish.
On the opposite side, Éire Óg Corra Choill have had the best part of a month to lick their wounds following their heavy defeat to Naas in the final round of the group stages.
Things had been going so well for Éire Óg Corra Choill up to the point of that 28 point loss so that’s just something they will quickly have to brush off and try to carry the positives they showed in the earlier rounds into Saturday’s semi-final against Maynooth.
They have a nice mix of youth and experience and have no problem in mixing at this kind of level in their third year back at senior.
Paul Dermody has shown throughout the Championship that he undoubtedly retains his qualities between the posts. Paul Dolan carries the confidence of a McDonagh Cup winner and his brother James is another big contributor for the team. Sean O’Neill is a thorn in the side of any defence while Liam Dempsey is as good a free taker as there is around so they have every chance of making their first senior final since 2013, and only their second since the turn of the century.
Standing in their way is Maynooth side who have been in two of the last three finals, and are last year’s runners up.
They, perhaps, surprisingly lost in the preliminary round to Celbridge but bounced back to form with wins over Confey and Ardclough and then made sure of their passage into the semi-finals with an emphatic 2-23 to 2-8 win over Coill Dubh.
The return of Cathal McCabe for that game was a huge boost for Maynooth but that is counterbalanced by the massive loss of David Qualter for the remainder of the Championship. Tom Power stood up during that win over Coill Dubh and scored 1-10 to make sure that Qualter’s absence wasn’t as keenly felt as it might have been but he will be need to repeat that.
All in all, it should make for a cracking game. When the two teams met at this stage last year, Maynooth were 2-18 to 1-16 winners but this tie could be even closer.
The Senior ‘B’ title is up for grabs this weekend as well and there will be a welcome return to the top flight of Kildare hurling for either Leixlip or Clane.
Leixlip topped the group stages by winning all five of their games with a score difference of +84 and then breezed past Broadford in the semi-final.
Clane went down by four points when the teams met in the group stages but the majority of the game was even closer than that, with only one point between the sides before Darragh Melville scored three late points.
Their win over Naas in the semi-finals was impressive and county goalkeeper Paddy McKenna continues to score heavily.
It’s another game almost too close to call but there is no doubt that Clane’s confidence will be up after that win over Naas.
For further discussion on this weekend's hurling action, check out the latest episode of The Short Grass Kildare Nationalist Sports Podcast
UPMC Kildare Senior Hurling Championship Semi Finals Venue: Cedral St Conleth's Newbridge, Coill Dubh V Naas, 3.30pm Venue: Cedral St Conleth's Newbridge
Éire Óg Corra Choill V Maynooth, 5.15pm
UPMC Intermediate Hurling Championship Final Venue: Cedral St Conleth's Newbridge, Maynooth V Naas, 2pm
UPMC Senior B Hurling Championship Final Venue: Cedral St Conleth's Newbridge, Clane V Leixlip, 4pm
