Kildare SFC final: Athy 1-17 Naas 0-18
Athy captain David Hyland didn’t mince his words during his victory speech, sticking it to just about anyone who’d written the reds off.
Critics, including the local media, all got it, as did whoever circulated the fixture days before this game that suggested Naas would be playing Wicklow’s Baltinglass in the Leinster club SFC on November 2nd.
It won’t be Naas travelling to Aughrim, of course, it will be Athy, who channelled all the hurt and emotion of being written off into a powerful county final display.
But for the seven first-half wides they tallied, including a number of poor ones, they’d have been farther than 1-7 to 0-9 ahead at half-time.
RM Block
And when they really tuned in their radar midway through the second-half, they kicked up a storm that ultimately clinched their eighth title and first since 2020.
Seven Athy points in a row between the 38th and 48th minutes left the underdogs 1-15 to 0-12 clear, just enough of a cushion to repel an anticipated late Naas charge.
Barry Kelly took the man-of-the-match award for Athy, scoring 1-3 from centre-forward before going off with a cramp that summed up the huge shift he put in.
Former Tyrone defender Cathal McCarron, now 37, pushed Kelly close for the individual award with a brilliant performance that yielded three points from play.
Hyland was terrific next to Kildare captain Kevin Feely in the Athy midfield too, rembering his late mother, Maura, in his victory speech also.
“I felt her there today,” he said afterwards. “I went up to the graveyard this morning and, as I was coming out, Barry Kelly was going in to see his grandad. It was emotional.”
As for being written off, Hyland stood over what he said in his speech.
“If you were following the form book, we probably haven’t been too far away from Naas,” said Hyland. “To have reckoned we were so far out of the loop, the odds looked like a mismatch on paper.”
Freshly minted Tailteann Cup player of the year Alex Beirne struck 10 points, including four two-pointers, and was one of the few Naas players who enhanced his reputation, along with Ryan Sinkey.
Both players had late two-point opportunities to tie the game but those came to nought.
Athy: S Jackman; S Moore (0-0-2), M Spillane, D Lawler; P Spillane, C McCarron (0-0-3), J McGrath; K Feely (0-0-1), D Hyland; B Maher (0-0-2), B Kelly (1-0-3), C Doyle; R Kelly, C Moran, N Kelly (0-0-6, 5f). Subs: C Keaveney for R Kelly (46 mins); B Purcell for B Kelly (50 mins); M Hyland for Moran (57 mins); S Bride for McGrath & P Behan for Doyle (59 mins).
Naas: L Mullins; M Maguire, B Byrne, R Fitzgerald; J McKevitt (0-0-1), E Doyle, B Stynes (0-0-1); Paddy McDermott, Paul McDermott; E Beirne, F Quinn, K Cummins (0-0-1); D Kirwan, A Beirne (0-4-2; 2 tpf, 1f), R Sinkey (0-0-5). Subs: C Daly for Quinn (43 mins); N Aherne for E Beirne (46 mins); S Hanifin for Stynes (49); D Hanifin for Cummins (53).
Referee: B Cawley (Sarsfields).
