Sarsfields clinch quarter-final spot
Matty Byrne made a return to the Sarsfields' starting line up for their win over Maynooth
A powerful Sarsfields performance saw them clinch a quarter-final place in the Joe Mallon Motors Senior Football Championship with a comfortable fourteen-point win over a very disappointing Maynooth in Cedral St Conleth’s Park.
A return of 1-5 to a point while Maynooth were down to fourteen men in the opening half proved crucial, as did a return of five points without reply in the opening ten minutes of the second period.
A Paddy Mahoney goal on 41 minutes and a follow up point from Matthew Diamond saw them cut the gap back to six points but they would have needed another goal to make a game of it and it was Sarsfields who re-asserted themselves down the home stretch, Harry Redmond putting the icing on the cake with a second Sarsfields goal in injury time to add to Karl Hartley’s first half effort.
Maynooth made the early running with a Conor O’Grady point and a Ciaran Flanagan two-point free putting them three clear, but Ben Loakman put some wasteful Sarsfields attacks behind them with a two-pointer on ten minutes.
Loakman followed that up with another orange flag from a free, that coming after Maynooth had lost Sean Mahon to a black card for a trip on Hartley and Sarsfields went on to take full advantage of the extra man, outscoring their opponents 1-5 to 0-1 during those ten minutes.
Flanagan levelled at four apiece but after Tadhg Hoey’s two-pointer, Maynooth were turned over at midfield and Conor O’Donovan set up Hartley to wriggle past his marker and finish past former Kildare goalkeeper Mark Donnellan.
Hartley added a point immediately to stretch the lead to six points, although Maynooth hit three of the final five points of the half to reduce the gap to five at the interval (1-9 to 0-7).
Maynooth needed a fast start to the second half but two points apiece from Matty Byrne and Ryan Kearney helped Sarsfields move into a comfortable ten-point lead (1-14 to 0-7). It could have been worse for Maynooth had Donnellan not denied Kearney with a full-length save while Darren Maguire denied Hartley a second goal with a brave block at point blank range.
There was a brief hint of a Maynooth recovery when Mahoney’s inch-perfect left footed finish beat Marc Courtney Byrne, but they couldn’t get any closer than six points and were outscored by 1-6 to a point in the last ten minutes plus injury time with substitute Redmond getting in for the second goal two minutes into injury time.
The result puts Sarsfields and Naas through to the last eight while Maynooth will battle Raheens in two weeks’ time for a place in the Preliminary Quarter Finals.
Marc Courtney Byrne; Cian Byrne, Tom Aspell, Alan Scully; Jimmy O’Neill, Kieran Dwyer, Daragh Conlon; Tadhg Hoey 0-2 (2pf), Callum Bolton; Matty Byrne 0-2, Ryan Kearney 0-3, Shea Ryan; Conor O’Donovan 0-1, Karl Hartley 1-3, Ben Loakman 0-6 (1tp, tpf). Subs: Cian Costigan 0-2 for M Byrne 42, Harry Redmond 1-0 for O’Neill 52, Jake Loakman 0-1 for Conlon 57, Gavin Anderson for Dwyer 57.
Mark Donnellan; Cathal Quinn, Sean Mahon, Darren Maguire; Conor O’Grady 0-1, Niall O’Sullivan 0-1, Matthew Eustace; Paul Maguire, Ciaran Flanagan 0-4 (1tpf); Paul O’Dea 0-1, Fionn Ó Giolláin, Paddy Hever; Paddy Mahoney 1-0, Liam McDonald, Sean Hever 0-1. Subs: Paddy Maguire for P Hever h-t, Matthew Diamond 0-1 for O Giolláín 38, Cillian Geraghty for O’Grady 44, Daniel Farrell for S Hever 56, Sean Higgins for McDonald 59.
Billy O’Connell.
