Leinster SFC quarter-final: Naas (Kildare) 1-15 Cuala (Dublin) 2-15
Cuala footballers made the best possible start to their first AIB Leinster senior championship in Newbridge’s impressively revamped St Conleth’s Park. In a swashbuckling provincial quarter-final they eventually saw off four-in-a-row Kildare champions, Naas, despite a late rally that restored a contest the Dubliners appeared to have settled.
The winners got what they needed in performance and that was a consistent team effort. For sure, the marquee names, Con O’Callaghan – his county final red card lifted by video evidence – and Michael Fitzsimons made their impacts but they were well supplemented by lesser-known team-mates.
In particular, O’Callaghan’s younger brother Niall delivered an evening of predatory attack that yielded 1-5 from play plus an assist for the other goal when his catch and raid in the fourth minute drew a good save form Luke Mullins but Luke Keating was alert to the rebound.
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Former Mayo footballer Austin O’Malley, who manages Cuala, paid tribute to the younger O’Callaghan forward – another brother, Eoghan is at corner back – in the modern vernacular of priorities.
“His work ethic throughout and his dropping – he was covering a lot of ground so it was a brilliant, brilliant evening. But I thought all the guys, to a man stood up in different ways and that’s what’s needed.
“Different evenings and on different nights guys will hit the scores but other guys might be foraging away around the bases and providing the ammo and dropping back and doing the unselfish things and that’s what it’s all about.”
After a rocky start – too many turnovers in attack and an alarming frailty at the back when Naas ran at them – Cuala established themselves. In the Dublin final, one aspect of their play was striking for new champions: their composure when things weren’t going well and the clinical edge during phases of superiority.
As the screw turned, they took more of a grip at centrefield. Another county panellist, Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne, played well throughout, bringing a developing physicality to his game, and he and Peter Duffy – at one stage, a great turn under a dropping ball to get free – built the second half platform.
Wing back Eoin Kennedy – who scored the county final’s late, late winner – hit a couple of wides but he too was a great kick-out target and on the other wing David O’Dowd shot two points. Cal Doran maintained standards after a great Dublin final and his energy and ball carrying were a constant menace.
Then, when Alex Beirne’s sweeping shot in the 52nd minute ran across Ryan Scollard’s goal and into the net to cut the Dubliners’ cruising margin of five, it was replacement Conor Groarke, a Dublin under-20 hurler, who in little more than 10 minutes on the field, kicked 0-3 to play a key role in steadying the match.
For Naas, an accomplished team, it was a fourth successive defeat by the Dublin champions, having been eliminated by Kilmacud Croke for the previous three years.
They were given a good chance as title contenders with their old nemesis removed from contention and the team didn’t disappoint, conspicuously raising their game on the county final to look the better side for much of the first half.
Their manager Joe Murphy pointed out afterwards that of the team’s starting forwards, five were under 22 and the other, Darragh Kirwan, is just 23.
The latter has been a huge performer for Naas in recent years and again, on Saturday, scored 0-5 from play despite a rota of Cuala defenders trying their hand at controlling him in the first half before more effective damage limitation after half-time.
The Kildare champions were also more impressive in counterattacking in the first quarter and veteran Eoin Doyle and wing back Eoin Lawlor were prominent in both the use of the ball and moving it forward.
Ryan Sinkey had put them 0-9 to 1-4 ahead with a few minutes to go to the break. The Dubliners effectively won the match with their response either side of the break when they outscored their opponents 1-6 to 0-2 from the 26th to the 40th minute.
Three points came before half-time, the pick being a shot by O’Dowd after Fitzsimons had performed a textbook tackle on Paddy McDermott. The 40th-minute goal came from a typically piercing run by Con O’Callaghan, a pass to his brother Niall, whose deft finish under pressure put five points between the teams, 2-10 to 0-11.
The elder O’Callaghan was massively influential, getting in blocks and turning up in front of his own goal as an outlet, as well taking points and directing forward traffic.
Although Beirne’s goal threatened to reopen the inquiry, Cuala responded. There were a couple of alarms under dropping ball but they survived, and thanks to Groarke kept the scoreboard moving. For all the late heroics, Naas didn’t manage to reduce the deficit below two.
Cuala will play Tullamore in the semi-finals after the Offaly champions beat Wicklow’s Tinahely in Aughrim on Sunday.
CUALA: R Scollard (0-1, 45); D Conroy, C McMorrow, E O’Callaghan; D O’Dowd (0-2), M Fitzsimons, E Kennedy; P Ó Cofaigh Byrne, P Duffy; N O’Callaghan (1-5), C Dunne, C Doran; L Keating (1-1, 0-1f), C O’Callaghan (0-3, 0-2f), C O’Brien.
Subs: M Conroy for Dunne (h-t); C Groarke (0-3) for O’Brien (49 mins), C Ó Giolláin for O’Dowd (60), L Tracey for McMorrow (63).
NAAS: L Mullins; C McCarthy, M Maguire, R Fitzgerald; B Byrne, E Doyle, E Lawlor; J Burke, Paul McDermott; Paddy McDermott (0-2), T Browne (0-2), A Beirne (1-3, 0-2f); D Hanafin, D Kirwan (0-5), R Sinkey (0-1).
Subs: N Aherne for Browne (35 mins), C Daly (0-1) for Fitzgerald (43), S Hanafin (0-1) for Sinkey (45), K Cummins for Paul McDermott (57), E Beirne for Lawlor (58).
Referee: David Coldrick (Meath).
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