Cowzer and Thompson star as Naas CBS progress in Br Bosco Cup with commanding win

Naas CBS progressed to the next round of the knockout of the Br. Bosco Cup after a commanding win 2-19 to 0-6 over St Mel’s College Longford.

The Kildare school were on top early on but were failing to capitalise on their superiority and racked up four wides in the opening three minutes.

In the end, St Mel’s gifted Naas their first score with a free for overcarrying being brought up in front of the posts for dissent, which Euan Cowzer popped over.

St Mel’s responded with back to back points from James Hagan with the lively full-forward finding space to fire over.

After some fine Naas play in possession, Rory Thompson equalised and left his game at 0-2 apiece after 11 minutes of action.

Thompson then gave his side the lead when he knocked a free which had been superbly won by the power-running Niall McAndrew. Liam Kenny doubled Naas’ advantage with a confident curled strike after cutting inside.

A point at either end maintained Naas’ two-point advantage before consecutive scores from Euan Cowzer doubled their advantage. 

James Hagan was again the man to respond for the visiting side, he did so this time from a close-range free.

Rory Thompson grabbed the last point of the half for the Naas side but the outstanding late contribution was that of Daniel Sargent who stopped a certain goal with a full-bodied block on the half hour mark. 

After Sargent smothered the goalbound effort of Mel’s forward Diarmaid O'Brien, the sides went in at the break with Naas leading 0-8 to 0-4.

Niall McAndrew's point for Naas after the break was quickly answered by Jack Finnegan at the other end  for what would be the Longford side’s last score for 20 minutes as the home side pulled well clear.

Sean Tully was the next on the scoresheet after he chopped inside and fired over off his left side. The wing-forward’s point was quickly followed by a further point from Euan Cowzer and the game’s first goal from the boot of Rory Thompson.

Naas midfielder Liam Kenny strode forward and was the man to slip Thompson in and the corner-forward made no mistake when he fired low underneath the ‘keeper to find the net. The game’s first green flag gave Naas CBS an 1-11 to 0-5 lead after 40 minutes of play.

Euan Cowzer was then back into the centre of things with a second helping of back to back scorers from the talented forward.

The game took a peculiar turn in the 46th minute when Aidan McGrane was sent off after a seemingly innocuous foul. It was confirmed after the game that McGrane was dismissed for his remonstrations with the referee’s initial decision.

The red card did little to change the course of things however and that lethal combination of Rory Thompson and Euan Cowzer picked up the game’s next three scores. The last of which was the game’s second goal with Cowzer finding the net after getting two bites of the cherry and taking the second.

With five minutes remaining, Naas sat 2-15 to 0-5 ahead and moments later St Mel's got their final score of this fixture through James Hagan, who added his fourth point.

The Naas men finished strong with two points from the exceptional Niall McAndrew as well as one more each for Cowzer and Thompson. Those final four on the board left Naas with a 2-19 to 0-6 at full-time as they advanced to the next knockout round of the Br. Bosco Cup.

Naas CBS, Euan Cowzer 1-8 (3 x free), Rory Thompson 1-5 (2 x frees), Niall McAndrew 0-3, Liam Kenny 0-2, Sean Tully 0-1.

St Mel's Longford, James Hagan 0-4 (2 x free), Conor Reynolds 0-1, Jack Finnegan 0-1.

NAAS CBS: Mark Halligan; Oisin O'Neill, Tom Kilmartin, Daniel Sargent; Niall McAndrew, Cian McKevitt, Aidan McGrane; Jack Heneghan, Liam Kenny; Rian Curran, Matthew Galvin, Sean Tully; Euan Cowzer, Jack Reilly, Rory Thompson. Subs: Evan Cahill for Rian Curran (35 minutes), Evan Lenehan for Liam Kenny (43 minutes), Robbie Millham for Jack Reilly (43 minutes), Stephen Murphy for Matthew Galvin (53 minutes).

ST MEL'S: Adam McCormack; Cian Gilna, Billy Maguire, Ezekiel DeCosta; Michael Gacquin, Mark Cooney, Cathal Lynch; Conor Doherty, James Shannon; Jack Finnegan, Conor Reynolds, Michael Glennon; Diarmaid O'Brien, James Hagan, Adam McCarthy. Subs: Senan Buckley for Adam McCarthy (38 minutes), Eoghan Kiernan for Diarmaid O'Brien (50 minutes).

Referee: Brian O’Connor (Dublin)

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