Naas into the final as Beirne does the business against Celbridge
Alex Beirne scores his goal as Naas beat Celbridge to reach the Kildare SFC Final. All Photos: James Lawlor
Relentless Naas bulldozed aside a disappointing Celbridge challenge to claim their place in the Joe Mallon Motors Kildare Senior Football Championship final.
Naas had shown a few signs of vulnerability in this year’s championship, but Philly McMahon certainly has them primed to secure a fifth successive title on the basis of this dominant display against perennial bridesmaids Celbridge whose unbroken sequence of twelve semi-finals has now delivered nine defeats.
Celbridge played with the breeze into the Kilcullen End in the opening half but couldn’t take advantage thanks to a combination of their seven wides and a laxness down the right side of their defence in particular.
The sides shared the opening ten points evenly with Tony Archbold leading the fight for Celbridge with two points while Alex Beirne was most dangerous for Naas, registering two early points including a free.
Celbridge seemed to have an opportunity to open up a significant gap when points from John Clarke and Aaron Browne in the space of a minute put them 0-7 to 0-5 ahead after 19 minutes.
But Naas identified a weakness down the right of the Celbridge defence with Beirne drifting out to that wing and it was the Kildare forward who pounced for the opening half’s crucial score as he came in off the wing and finished left footed to Shane McNamara’s net after twenty minutes.
Beirne and younger brother Elliott added points to send Naas 1-7 to 0-7 ahead before an Aaron Browne free from just inside the arc gave Celbridge their first score in eight minutes, three minutes before the interval.
Browne’s younger brother Killian might have felt he deserved a penalty a minute later when he ran into two Naas defenders, but referee Billy O’Connell was not persuaded and the sides swapped the last two scores of the half through a well-marshalled Ryan Sinkey and Archbold’s third point of the game to leave two between them at the interval (1-8 to 0-9).
Celbridge needed to be clinical after the break but after robbing Eoin Doyle in the corner they missed a simple chance when Aaron Browne’s weak effort bounced off the crossbar from close range, and they went on to add only four more points in the second half as Naas ran riot with an outstanding display of counter-attacking football and a voracious appetite for turnovers that the Dublin border side couldn’t live with.
They outscored their opponents five points to one in the third quarter to effectively put to the game to bed while Celbridge continued to prove wasteful when opportunities presented themselves.
Paddy McDermott was outstanding in the second half, adding two points to his first half one and was involved in most of Naas’ good counterattacks without neglecting his defensive duties.
As the game opened up Naas might have added second half goals to their tally but young midfielder Fintan Quinn’s low effort was deflected up and over the bar by goalkeeper Shane McNamara and the experienced stopper also denied Kirwan from close range while the Kildare forward also slipped at an inopportune moment as another opportunity went abegging.
The scary thing for Naas’ final opponents was that the likes of Sinkey and Kirwan were not at their free-scoring best, while Alex Beirne had a quiet third quarter before exploding again near the end and registering the game’s two two-pointers (from play and a free) as he brought his personal tally to 1-7.
For Celbridge the nightmare continues after coming so close in the last two finals, which they lost by two points and then a point. But you don’t shoot eleven wides and drop four more short if you’re hoping to beat a team of the quality of this Naas side.
Alex Beirne 1-7 (1tp, 1tpf, 1f), Paddy McDermott 0-3; Darragh Kirwan and Ryan Sinkey 0-2 each, Fintan Quinn, Paul McDermott, Kevin Cummins, Brian Stynes and Elliott Beirne 0-1 each.
Aaron Browne 0-6 (3f), Tony Archbold 0-3, John Clarke, Fergal Conway and Kevin Flynn (f) 0-1 each.
Luke Mullins; Mark Maguire, Brian Byrne, Rob Fitzgerald; Jack McKevitt, Eoin Doyle, Paddy McDermott; Fintan Quinn, Paul McDermott; Kevin Cummins, Brian Stynes, Elliott Beirne; Darragh Kirwan, Alex Beirne, Ryan Sinkey.
Cathal Daly for E Beirne 46, Tim Ryan for Doyle 48, Eoghan Prizeman 0-1 for Stynes 55, Sean Hanafin for Paul McDermott 57, Neil Aherne for A Beirne 58.
Shane McNamara; John Clarke, Mick O’Grady, Cian Powell; Dean O’Donighue, Mick Konstantin, Niall O’Regan; Hugh McGrillen, Fergal Conway; Kevin Flynn, Kevin O’Callaghan, Tony Archbold; Paddy Brophy, Aaron Browne, Killian Browne.
Eoghan Light for Powell (40), Luke Murray for Brophy (45), James Dolan for K Browne (48), Davy Hughes for O’Donoghue and Conor Plunkett for O’Callaghan (54).
Billy O’Connell.
