Cowser And Thompson fire dominant Naas CBS into Bosco Cup quarter-finals

LEINSTER GAA PPS SENIOR FOOTBALL “A” BRO BOSCO CUP – PRELIM QUARTER FINAL

NAAS CBS 2-19 ST MEL’S LONGFORD 0-6 

He may have been absent since the Kildare Minor County Football Final in October but Euan Cowser returned to action with a bang as he contributed 1-8 as Naas CBS qualified for the Bro Bosco Cup Quarter Finals with a comfortable victory over St Mel’s of Longford in the Prelim Quarter Final in Manguard Park on Tuesday afternoon.

After the heavy rain in the previous 48 hours the game was switched from Raheens GAA to Pitch 4 in Manguard Park which, not unexpectedly, bore the hallmarks of the previous days’ downpours.

Cowser was ably assisted in the scoring stakes by the other corner forward, Rory Thompson, who contributed a handsome 1-5 to the CBS total on the day.

Both sides took a little while before coming to terms with the pitch and the biting crossfield breeze and we had to wait until the sixth minute for the opening score from a Cowser free. Mel’s responded with two points from their lively full forward, James Hagan, but Thompson drew the sides level with a point from play in the 11th minute and put his side in front with a free two minutes later. This was a lead the Kildare school was never to lose and they dominated the rest of the half outscoring Mel’s 0-5 to 0-2. Midfielder Liam Kenny chipped in with the first of his two points in the game while the white flag was also raised by the very impressive Niall McAndrew, Cowser and Thompson. As Mel’s struggled, they could only muster points from Conor Reynolds and a Hagan free and CBS lead 0-8 to 0-4 at the break.

CBS turned the screw early in the second half and they were rewarded with their first goal, a well worked team goal, from Thompson in the 41st minute. Driven on by the likes of McAndrew down the right CBS had a succession of scores from Thompson and Cowser before Cowser worked his way through for goal number two in the 56th minute. Naas lost wing back, Aidan McGrane, to what seemed like a harsh straight red card in that second half but despite numerical advantage Mel’s could only add two more points to their tally as CBS ran out comfortable and worthy winners.

The open draw for the quarter-finals is scheduled for this Friday, 5 December with the games due to be played on week beginning 15 December.

NAAS CBS: Mark Halligan (Naas); Oisin O’Neill (Naas), Tom Kilmartin (Naas), Daniel Sargent (Eadestown); Niall McAndrew (Naas) 0-3, Cian McKevitt (Naas), Aidan McGrane (Naas); Jack Heneghan (Raheens), Liam Kenny (Naas) 0-2; Rian Curran (Raheens), Matthew Galvin (Ballymore Eustace), Sean Tully (Raheens) 0-1; Euan Cowser (Naas) 1-8 (3 frees), Jack Reilly (Kill), Rory Thompson (Raheens) 1-5 (2 frees). SUBS: Evan Cahill (Eadestown) for Rian Curran 35, Evan Lenehan (Naas) for Liam Kenny 40, Robbie Millham (Naas) for Rory Thompson 50, Stephen Murphy (Raheens) for Matthew Galvin 53, Tom Boran (Eadestown) for Jack Reilly 59.

ST MEL’S LONGFORD: Adam McCormack; Cina Gilna, Billy Maguire, Ezekiel De Costa; Michael Gacquin, Mark Cooney, Cathal Lynch; Conor Doherty, James Shannon; Jack Finnegan 0-1, Conor Reynolds 0-1, Michael Glennon; Diarmaid O’Brien, James Hagan 0-4 (2 frees), Adam McCarthy. SUBS USED: Eoghan Kiernan, Senan Buckley.

REFEREE: Brian O’Connor (Dublin)