Mullally calls for improvements for Leinster campaign

Tom Mullally savoured his sixth Kildare county title with Naas (Colm Rourke having been in charge for the first of the seven in 2019), though he acknowledged it was the sort of performance that wouldn’t take the club deep into the upcoming Leinster campaign, where they open against his old charges Mount Leinster Rangers of Carlow in four weeks.

“We definitely would have to up our game big time if we’re to have any thoughts (of Leinster). But I think in relation to where we’ve been up to now, winning today, just with the way the year has gone, has been an excellent outcome and an excellent result for the group. Again, their application has been excellent.” The Kilkenny native was at pains to paint a different narrative about Naas’ resources than might be out there generally.

“We’ve had a substantial number of injuries there. I recognise what people perceive as the story of Naas, but we’ve had some young lads that have come in this year that have done excellently for us. Mac Dara came on today, Fionn came on today, Ferran has been flying around the place, Liam O’Reilly came in, Evan O’Briain, they’ve all had trojan years for us,” he told the Kildare Nationalist.

Naas clearly view Maynooth as a coming team, and they felt the need to “control” that momentum.

“We knew from the semi-final what Maynooth can bring, and it was important that we don’t give them the free-flowing hurling that they looked like they were playing in the semi-final. That helped us stay in control of the game to a degree. I know it was a kind of a dogfight there at times, but I think the goal and those scores coming into half-time were crucial to the outcome.” Despite the cushion those scores provided, he wasn’t particularly happy with how they played after the interval.

“I didn’t think we pushed on enough, (though) we were very much in control of it. I’m not sure why that was, I don’t think we created enough opportunities in our forward line. I think we looked okay at the back. Maynooth kind of ran at us, got a couple of scores and looked for a few minutes as though, if they got another couple of scores that they could have caused us a bit of danger. But I think our backs held out well and stayed in control.” Perhaps it was a challenge to his players with Leinster now on the horizon, but the Glenmore clubman floated the thought that perhaps his team had reached a ceiling.

“I would hope (there’s room for improvement). I don’t know, maybe we are maxing out. If we are maxing out then this is where we’re at and we’re really, really pleased with getting a result here today.” He maintains he hasn’t thought about Mount Leinster but knows the challenge will be a huge one.

“It’s something we’ve had to put to the back of our minds. I was down at the county final alright just to see it, and it was a hugely, hugely, impressive performance from them on the day. I know they’ve had football in the meantime. We’ll sit down in the week, we’ve to enjoy this, it doesn’t come around too often so it’s important we enjoy it, and we’ll sit down and try and get our heads around the challenge that’s ahead of us. It’ll be a big enough one.” 

MAN OF THE MATCH - CIAN BORAN 

You’d forget he’s so young given his experience with club and county, but man-of-the-match Cian Boran is still hungry for honours, clearly.

“I’m only 20 myself, this is only my third one, so I still have a lot of hunger there as well as a lot of younger lads on the panel coming up through. We’re still hungry for more,” he told us.

He felt this was their toughest outing against a coming Maynooth side but wasn’t surprised.

“In fairness, we were always waiting for Maynooth to come, we knew that they’d the players and the skill to put it up to us this year and we know that they’re growing every year, the skill level, the young lads coming up through there causing awful hassle for us. They put up some game there today and I’m sure it’ll be even closer a game next year.” Boran was already looking forward to the Leinster campaign to come.” “The last two years we were unlucky there against St Martin’s last year, we just didn’t bring what we needed to bring and the year before we lost to Na Fianna and they went on to win the All Ireland last year. So we know we’re there or thereabouts, but it depends how much we really want it. So look the belief is there, the lads know that it’s nothing new so we just have to put the heads down now, it’s a four-week break and then we have to look forward to Mount Leinster Rangers then.”