Naas 1-12 Clane 0-6
Naas showed the value of experience at St Conleth’s Park on Sunday, controlling the Kildare county final as tightly as a puppet master to overwhelm their initially buoyant young opponents from Clane.
The champions dominated possession and territory, took virtually all of the shots — Clane managed other four attempts, two wide, two dropped short to go with their six points — to record a nine-point win, which was rarely in dispute let alone threatened.
The match was a spectacle for the committed, as the usual precepts of modern football were unashamedly on display, all outfield players apart from the attacking goalkeeper swarming around like nursery children chasing around wherever the ball was.
Conditions took a turn for the worse with persistent rain making the pitch heavy and the ball difficult. For winning manager Joe Murphy the clouds had a silver lining and the venue again proved a happy hunting ground, the latest success after his playing days with Carlow’s Éire Óg in the 1990s.
“We felt that we controlled the game — young opponents that didn’t have the experience our guys attained last year, [which] stood to them today. They played a smart game, kept the ball out of the tackle, kept it moving and spread the ball around and then systematically picked off scores.
“When the goal came, finally, it was done and dusted at that stage.”
He was particularly happy with the way his team responded in the early stages to what was in front of them, generally 15 Clane players. They played patiently and carved out the scoring chances, which they took not maybe in abundance, but the combined effect was of an ominously slow drum roll.
Clane had been unexpected finalists, their young team — starting average, 23 — running exuberantly through the championship but whether it was the difficulty of hitting best form that can beset teams in their first final or simple inexperience of big days in general, they never got going.
They were unable, as Murphy pointed out, to break the stranglehold exerted by Naas whose centrefield of James Burke, in particular, and official MOTM Alex Beirne, were picking off the Clane kickouts when under pressure of a high press, Cian Burke in the Clane goal was forced to go long.
That established a constant flow of possession, which the champions used to stretch the lead incrementally from the first couple of scores to “that’s not a great return for all their ball” to “Clane would need to do something” to “it’s over now” by half-time.
Darragh Kirwan looked the most lively forward even though he ended with just a point and squandered a few chances. In the second half he was one of two Naas players to get a clear sight of goal but drew a great save from Burke.
When Clane did get on the ball they had very few options. Brian McLoughhlin was ploughing a lone furrow and the service from his ponderously breaking team-mates never gave him much chance to pounce. On the occasions they did string together a move, they found Naas so physical in the tackle that they were forced into hastily shovelled passes to whoever looked as if they should available.
Eoin Doyle, who was one of the player-managers last year, worked efficiently as a sweeper and as a result Clane had no goal chances. That eventually became an issue when it became clear that more than points would be required.
By half-time it was 0-5 to 0-1, the sole score for the challengers coming from Shane O’Sullivan, who ended up taking all but two of their six points.
Clane did revive briefly in the middle of the second half, firing over three points in five minutes to cut the margin to three, 0-5 to 0-8, an O’Sullivan free, followed by Sam McCormack off a rare turnover of the Naas restart and then a whopper kicked by their own sweeper Robbie Philips, who worked very hard on what quickly became fire duty in defence.
Whereas that created the possibility of a comeback, that prospect was squashed by the Naas response, which was to outscore their opponents 1-4 to 0-1 in the last 10 minutes. Only Burke in goal limited the damage, from Kirwan and the replacement Seán Hanafin, after a sweeping move.
Eventually the levee broke and Paddy McCormack topped a fine display at wing back by showing the forwards how it was done, finishing waspishly on the overlap.
“There is massive satisfaction in retaining a title,” said Doyle afterwards. “We knew every game we were going to play this year as county champions; every game was going to be a county final. And we know that from being in the opposite court for so long. Every game is difficult so to get through all the different challenges that we had was brilliant satisfaction to see we could do it again.”
Naas: L Mullins (0-3, 0-2f 0-1 45); C Daly, M Maguire, B Byrne; P McDermott (1-0), E Doyle, T Browne (0-2); A Beirne (0-2), J Burke; P McDermott, D Hanafin (0-1), B Kane; E Callaghan (0-1f), D Kirwan (0-1), C Doyle (0-1).
Substitutions: S Hanafin for Burke (36 mins), J Cleary (0-1) for P McDermott (53 mins), J McKevitt for Kane (54 min), K Cummins for C Doyle (57 mins), E Prizeman for Browne (63 mins)
Clane: C Burke; H O’Neill, C Byrne, S McCormack; J Lynch, C Shanahan, S Reilly; S Christianseen, T Montgomery; S McCormack (0-1), C Vizzard, A Fanning; B McLoughlin, S O’Sullivan (0-4, 0-2f), R Philips (0-1).
Substitutions: C O’Brien for Christianseen, J Burke for Vizzard (both 42 mins), O Tighe for Lynch (49 mins), S Callan for Fanning, D Egan for McCormack (both 60 mins)
Referee: Brendan Cawley (Sarsfields)
