Naas greats make it eight in-a-row after tight and tough battle with Maynooth

Naas have lifted their eighth consecutive UPMC Kildare Senior Hurling Championship with a 3-13 to 0-11 win over Maynooth after an almighty battle, rivaling the achievements of the great Éire Óg Corra Choill teams of the 60s and 70s which won eight of nine between ‘64 and ‘72.

After this, their 14th SHC win, it means Naas have become the second most decorated hurling club in Kildare after this fiery encounter, surpassing Ardclough on the leaderboard with Clane (16 titles) in their sights next. They progress to the Leinster Championship in search of immortality in Kildare hurling terms after an impressive year in their county and an exceptionally hard-fought win in the decider.

Maynooth represented themselves well on the pitch and in the stands with a mighty travelling contingent and it was their centre-forward Martin Quilty who opened the scoring; firing over the bar from midfield with the wind at his back. The underdogs forced defensive overcarrying from the next play and Tom Power nailed the resulting free to double their advantage.

Power nailed another free after more diligent work around the middle from Maynooth and it was clear from early that the Maynooth hurlers had intentions of following in the footsteps of their footballing counterparts and upsetting the Kildare championship status quo.

Two further points within 30 seconds of each other had Maynooth five clear in as many minutes. Cathal McCabe scored from deep before Ciaran Dunne did the same and from much the same part of the pitch.

Charlie Sheridan opened Naas’ account after six minutes with the county champs on the backfoot in the opening throws. Jack Sheridan followed up to reduce the gap to three after a Maynooth foul in front of the posts when their opponents had gotten up a head of steam.

The tide wasn’t turning just yet however and Harry Dunne increased Maynooth’s buffer by reacting first to a breaking ball and splitting the posts. Maynooth led 0-6 to 0-2 past the 10-minute mark.

Naas grew into this fixture but they were continually met with stiff resistance, Maynooth were hyper-aggressive in the tackle and were defining ‘getting stuck in’ anytime the ball crossed into their half.

Jack Sheridan had a chance to reduce the gap to three in the 17th minute when the opposing defensive tenacity overstepped the line in the eyes of Brian Kearney, who let plenty go early on, but he fired wide and the massive Maynooth crowd roared again.

James Burke had a shot, clearly swept by the wind, drift wide moments later as the game went into its 10th scoreless minute. Simon Leacy was the man to end the scoring drought with a confident flick and the game was not much different at 0-6 to 0-3 as we reached 20 minutes on the clock.

Jack Sheridan drove towards goal and received plenty of contact inside the box but he was penalised for overcarrying after dropping to the floor with a sarcastic thumbs up coming from the Naas forward to the match official afterward.

For all the delight around Maynooth’s defensive work, their wait for a seventh point lasted 17 long minutes but their scoreless run ended when Tom Power produced a stunner from out wide.

A Jack Sheridan score drew Naas closer a minute before the interval with his second free and a Simon Leacy point in added time left the county champions trailing 0-7 to 0-5 at half-time.

There was still time for more action however with an almighty scrap breaking out as the sides jogged towards the dressing rooms. It began with Jack Sheridan on the ground after a clash with Martin Quilty, was followed by a sprint in from Naas’ John McKeown (who was red carded for his role) in turfing Quilty to the floor and turned into an all out wrestling match.

And just when things seemed to be cooling, selectors from Naas and Maynooth could be seen forehead to forehead exchanging their opinion on the matter.

After all that, it was time to consider what we had seen during the game so far with Naas hitting seven wides and shooting poorly overall against a Maynooth side competing like a team possessed. The main drawback for the half-time leaders was that they could not amount more of a total with the wind at their back.

Maynooth’s Martin Quilty was the only on-field player booked for his role in the scuffle before the game recommenced.

Jack Sheridan responded well to the chaotic goings on with two points after the break to level things, the first from a free and the second from range.

Maynooth’s young star Tom Power put in a talismanic showing and restored their lead with another stunner.

Naas hit the front for the first time in the 38th minute of this game when Cathal Dowling hunted Maynooth ‘keeper Sean Bean following a shot that dropped short, the Naas centre-forward turned over possession and composed himself before finding the far corner of the net.

Sheridan followed with a free from his own ‘65 before Simon Leacy registered his third in fine style and Naas led by three at 1-9 to 0-8 after 40 minutes of action.

The gap remained four as we entered the final quarter with Peter O’Donogue responding for Naas following a superb long-range free from Cathal McCabe.

Tom Power had Maynooth within three with a close-range free but Naas again had an answer with the margin unmoved headed into the final 10 minutes following Sheridan’s latest free.

A fine fetch in the middle from Peter O’Donoghue was offloaded to James Burke who opened his account with a lovely score.

Naas led by five with five to go and it seemed at that stage like Maynooth’s gargantuan effort was going to come up short after the champs had steadied the ship.

Naas confirmed their 14th Kildare SHC title after Brian Byrne drove towards goal and blasted through the Maynooth stopper and into the net.

Fionn Maher, who was substituted on seconds earlier, added Naas’ third goal to put some gloss onto their scoreline.

Naas lifted their eighth title in a row after weathering a Maynooth storm and closing out superbly on a scoreline of 3-13 to 0-11.

Naas: Jack Sheridan 0-6 (0-5 frees), Simon Leacy 0-4, Cathal Dowling 1-0, Fionn Maher 1-0, Brian Byrne 1-0, Charlie Sheridan 0-1, Peter O’Donoghue 0-1, James Burke 0-1.

Maynooth: Tom Power 0-5 (0-3 frees), Cathal McCabe 0-2 (0-1 frees), Martin Quilty 0-1, Ciaran Dunne 0-1, Harry Dunne 0-1, Kevin Dunne 0-1.

NAAS: Cormac Gallagher; Liam O’Reilly, Rian Boran, Evan O’Brian; Daire Guerin, Conan Boran, Harry Carroll; Peter O’Donoghue, Simon Leacy; Oisin O’Neill, Cathal Dowling, Brian Byrne; Charlie Sheridan, James Burke, Jack Sheridan. Subs: Cian Boran for Charlie Sheridan (Blood sub 16 minutes), (Blood sub reversal 19 minutes), Cian Boran for Cathal Dowling (44 minutes), Fionn Maher for Oisin O’Neill (59 minutes).

MAYNOOTH: Sean Bean; Cian Brody, Matt Eustace, Conor O’Grady; Cian Forde, Cathal McCabe, Cormac Nolan; Ronan Dunne, Dan O’Meara; Oran Byrne, Martin Quilty, Harry Dunne; Tom Power, Ciaran Dunne, Tadhg Forde. Subs: Kevin Dunne for Oran Byrne (49 minutes), Conall Knox for Martin Quilty (56 minutes), Kevin Carroll for Ronan Dunne (58 minutes), Luke Murnane for Tadhg Forde (61 minutes).

Referee: Brian Kearney