Bah, humbug. This brings a whole new meaning to the traditional GAA Bumper Christmas Draw. All Na Fianna wanted for Christmas was a Sunday off and while Dessie Farrell was obliged in circumstances he would rather have avoided, the rest of the city side will return to Newbridge on December 23rd for their eighth game in as many weeks.
In many ways, though, they must be counting their blessings; Rathnewcould have snatched the glory in this Leinster final yesterday.
"I'm disgusted," admitted Rathnew manager Harry Murphy afterwards. "I thought we were the better side. In the last 20 minutes, we had it, we finished stronger than them, as I expected. But I'm not looking forward to next week now because we had them beaten here.
"But we will regroup and give it our best shot. The lads are already looking forward to it."
For all the build-up and the classic contrasts between the teams, the match for a long time failed to live up to the occasion. The opening 15 minutes were as frigid as the deep December chill that settled across Kildare, with both sides struggling to manage a point. There was more movement in the stands as the crowd shuffled to keep warm.
The game's two definitive passages revolved around the unmistakable frame of Dessie Farrell. The first movement was a thing of pure joy, a 17th-minute goal that in its architecture represented all that is best about the Dublin club.
It started unpromisingly, from a throw-up near the sideline in the middle of the park. The tussle for possession was won by Kieran McGeeney, a man playing as if winning this competition has become an unspoken obsession and suddenly Na Fianna were all symphonic movement.
The Na Fianna captain transferred the ball to fellow Armagh man Dessie Macken and then Senan Connell materialised and flashed a ball to the cutting Farrell. The Dublin veteran's finish was one for the archives, a first-time bolt from nothing with a comic-hero's bulging of the net.
Dessie's strike, leaving it at 1-1 to 0-1, liberated the players and the half closed on something of a carol, with the skill-laden Ronan Coffey beginning to sparkle for Rathnew, before Kevin Gill completed a brilliant and direct Rathnew move, with Darren and Ronan Coffey the facilitators. The goal was the separating factor at the break, with each team managing four points.
Farrell's next crucial input was in the opening minutes of the second half. An innocuous looking tangle with Barry Mernagh suddenly became an incident when Farrell raised an elbow, connecting with the Rathnew defender. The Dublin player was unfortunate in that his motion was not aggressive but the rules do not allow for interpretation on matters such as this. He had to walk.
That departure shook Na Fianna and from then on, they had a hunted look about them. Damian Power shepherded the initially lethal Jason Sherlock into anonymity and Leighton Glynn came on for Rathnew to lend an impressive dimension to their attack.
Trouble was they couldn't score. Tommy Gill misfired on two big frees late on and too often, they wandered from the crisp, direct style that suits them.
Na Fianna, too, had difficulties converting frees and by the last quarter, they had slipped into survival mode. Brian McManus and Dessie Macken toiled at the heart of much of the action, McGeeney again put his soul into the hour and Karl Donnelly's input was huge.
Indeed, Donnelly's fine strike on 56 minutes, ending a long arctic period for his side, might well have been enough to win the thing. Seconds later, he was back on his own line, plucking a dangerous, dropping ball from the crowd. Na Fianna, though, fumbled - not for the first time - their clearance and the deft Glynn curled over.
On borrowed time, Rathnew - specialists in the art of last-second scores - came for more, chasing down a loose Nigel Clancy clearance and patiently passing the ball around a wall of Na Fianna jerseys before Glynn finally selected Mark Doyle, who booted over a relatively simple equaliser. Nobody was exactly surprised when referee Mick Monahan shouted stop.
"I felt that both teams probably under-performed. That was certainly true of us," reckoned Na Fianna's Mick Galvin afterwards.
"I think we had two scores in the second half. I don't think it was tiredness, probably more of a mental state. It's all about big hearts at this time of the year."
Seasonal sentiments, certainly, as panic shopping rearrangements are negotiated in at least two Leinster parishes. Not that anyone was grumbling. "Look, Christmas comes round for us every year," noted Harry Murphy. "Leinster finals don't."
NA FIANNA: S Gray; M Foley, N Clancy, P McCarthy; T Lynch, S McGlinchy, B McManus; K Donnelly (0-1), K McGeeney (0-1); D Farrell (1-0), S Connell, D Macken (0-1, free); P McGeeney, J Sherlock, I Foley (0-2, frees). Substitutes: N O'Murch· for M Foley (55 mins), A Shearer for P McGeeney (58 mins).
RATHNEW: T Murphy; B Mernagh, M Coffey, D Power; E Franey, T Doyle, S Byrne; D Coffey, D Byrne; R Dignam, T Gill (0-3, 1 free), A Mernagh (0-1); K Gill (0-1), R Coffey (0-2), M Doyle (0-1). Substitutes: L Glynn (0-1) for R Dignam (half-time).
Referee: M Monahan (Kildare).
