Kilmacud Crokes Beat Naas To Claim Third Leinster Title In-A-Row

KILMACUD CROKES 1-14 

NAAS 0-10 

Kilmacud Crokes claimed their third successive AIB Leinster Club Senior Football Championship title when overcoming Naas by seven points at Croke Park on Saturday afternoon.

The final score fails to reflect the tightness of the exchanges with Crokes leading by the slimmest of margins by the 49^th minute but a composed conclusion from the champions saw them finish on the front foot.

The gloss was provided by Shane Walsh’s counter-attacking goal deep into added time and fittingly it was the Galway star that had the final word, given the influence that he exerted for a Kilmacud side that were far from their fluent best.

Once again, the victory could be attributed to their experience of the big occasion and their uncanny ability to come through sticky situations, which has been a hallmark of their unprecedented recent success.

Both teams were fairly quick out of the blocks with Naas opening the scoring through an excellent Dermot Hanafin point in the 3^rd minute with Crokes opening their own account courtesy of a Shane Walsh free three minutes later.

Shane Horan edged the holders back in front in the 7^th minute but the influential Alex Beirne restored parity two minutes later with the first of his three scores in the opening half.

Both teams enjoyed sporadic periods of control as Kilmacud pushed two points clear through Craig Dias and Walsh only for Beirne to narrowly fire over the crossbar at the opposite end to leave the contest delicately poised.

Paul Mannion and Darragh Kirwan exchanged frees to leave Crokes 0-5 to 0-4 ahead by the end of the first quarter with the latter bringing the teams level in the 18^th minute with a fine point off his left boot.

It was at this point that Kilmacud began to enjoy another brief period of dominance, as Walsh popped over two points in quick succession before Horan pushed his team three clear by the 26^th minute.

Beirne’s driving runs yielded another impressive score for Naas soon after and while Dara Mullin jinked through for a smart point of his own, Kirwan finished the half with another fine effort to trim his team’s deficit to just two points (0-9 to 0-7) by half-time.

There was a marked increase in terms of intensity and physicality from the challengers in the second-half, despite them falling further behind after Walsh had converted a booming free in the 32^nd minute.

Successive frees from Beirne and Kirwan were just reward for Naas’ greater energy and they spurned a couple of timely chances to restore parity as the quarter progressed.

Another Walsh free helped settle the Kilmacud ship in the 39^th minute but with the play almost exclusively condensed in their own half, they struggled to deal with the incessant Naas pressure.

Andrew McGowan was pivotal during this period, with his ability to burst through the lines offering his side some much-needed respite as they remained two points (0-11 to 0-9) ahead by the end of the third quarter.

A Paul McDermott point halved Naas’ deficit in the 49^th minute but it proved their final score of the game as Beirne and Kirwan lacked their previous accuracy and a brilliant run from McGowan allowed Walsh the chance to extend his team’s advantage.

Dan O’Brien proved provider for Walsh in the 60^th minute as the Naas challenge began to run out of steam and the margin was enhanced even further as Rory O’Carroll popped up at corner-forward to split the uprights in the 62^nd minute.

Beirne received a relatively harsh second yellow with time almost up and with goalkeeper Luke Mullins committed to attack, Walsh raced through on goal before clipping into the empty net, bringing his personal tally to 1-8 by the final whistle.

Scorers – Kilmacud Crokes: S Walsh 1-8 (0-5f), S Horan 0-2, P Mannion (f), D Mullin, C Dias, R O’Carroll 0-1 apiece. Naas: A Beirne (1f), D Kirwan (2f) 0-4 apiece, D Hanafin, P McDermott 0-1 each.

Kilmacud Crokes: D Higgins; D O’Brien, T Clancy, M O’Leary; C O’Connor, R O’Carroll, A McGowan; B Sheehy, C Dias; S Horan, P Mannion, D Mullin; H Kenny, S Cunningham, S Walsh. Subs: D Murphy for Kenny (half-time), C Pearson for Mullin (38), L Ward for Cunningham (50), D Dempsey for O’Connor (50), J Murphy for Dias (57).

Naas: L Mullins; C Daly, B Byrne, M Maguire; P McDermott, E Doyle, E Prizeman; P McDermott, J Burke; A Beirne, S Hanafin, J McKevitt; C McCarthy, D Hanafin, D Kirwan. Subs: K Cummins for McDermott (50), T Browne for Prizeman (50), N Aherne for D Hanafin (58), S Cullen for McKevitt (59m).

Referee: David Hickey (Carlow).