Impressive Naas looking stronger that ever in comfortable win

Naas 3-19

Johnstownbridge 0-7

Naas are through to the Joe Mallon SFC semi-final after a very impressive 21 point win over Johnstownbridge on Sunday afternoon.

Naas now play Athy in the last four and on this display will indeed be very hard to defeat as they up their bid for their fourth title in a row

Despite playing against a near gale in the opening half it was Naas who dominated the proceedings in the opening half. Johnstownbridge, as expected, played with fifteen behind the ball, despite the conditions in their favour, while also coughing up the Naas kick-outs.

Despite all that it was The Bridge who opened the scoring with Ryan Rainey raising the first white flag of the afternoon after seven minutes of play.

Neil Aherne leveled before Alex Beirne gave Naas the lead, a lead they did not relinquish throughout the rest of the game.A foul on Tom Browne saw Darragh Kirwan convert and Paddy McDermott made it 0-4 to 0-2 on 14 minutes.

Johnstownbridge hit back with two points in three minutes from Shane Flynn and a Paul Cribbin free and while Alex Beirne replied with a free of his own Paul Cribbin, with an excellent effort, left just a single point between them on 21 minutes.

Naas through had most of the possession and an excellent Alex Beirne effort followed by a free from the same player pushed the lead out to three on 23 minutes.

Dermot Hanafin was next on the scoring sheet for the champions before Johnstown replied with a fine point from Darragh Sloane to leave the half time score reading Naas 0-8 Johnstownbridge 0-5.

With the big wind now in their favour would could only speculate how much pressure would exert on their opponents.

And while Darragh Kirwan and Josh O'Donoghue exchanged early points, it was not long before Naas began to take full control.

A big run from Dermot Hanifin saw the No. 14 hit the perfect ball over the top and there was Mark Maguire to flick it to the net; Rob Fitzgerald added a point and while Josh O'Donoghue got his second it was the last point of the game from the underdogs as Naas took complete control.

The champions added a very impressive 2-8, the goals coming from two lads who came in off the bench, Brian Kane initially and then Fintan Quinn as the boys from the county town won as they pleased on a score line of Naas 3-19 Johnstownbridge 0-7.

Naas were impressive, if anything look like a side that is upping their game, as we have seen in the past, as the championship progresses.

Scorers: Naas, Alex Beirne 0-6 (4 frees), Darragh Kirwan 0-3 (2 frees), Mark Maguire 1-0, Fintan Quinn 1-0, Brian Kane 1-0, Dermot Hanafin 0-3, Neil Aherne 0-2, Paddy McDermott 0-2, Rob Fitzgerald 0-1, Ryan Sinkey 0-1, Luke Mullins 0-1 (free).

Johnstownbridge, Paul Cribbin 0-2 (2 frees), Josh O'Donoghue 0-2 (1 free), Darragh Sloane 0-1, Ryan Rainey 0-1, Shane Flynn 0-1.

NAAS: Luke Mullins; Mark Maguire, Conor McCarthy, Rob Fitzgerald; Brian Byrne, Eoin Doyle, Eoin Lawlor; Ryan Sinkey, Sean Hanafin; Alex Beirne, Tom Browne, Paddy McDermott; Darragh Kirwan, Dermot Hanafin, Neil Aherne. Subs: Paul McDermott for Dermot Hanifin (46 minutes); Cathal Daly for Eoin Lawlor (48 minutes); Kevin Cummins for Tom Browne (54 minutes); Fintan Quinn for Tom Browne (55 minutes); Brian Kane for Ryan Sinkey (57 minutes).

JOHNSTOWNBRIDGE: Eoin Sheehan; Sean McKeon, Tomas Van Englebrechten, Keith Cribbin; Shane Flynn, Aaron McNally, Ryan Rainey; Joey Higgins, Paul Cribbin; Sam Doran, Darragh Sloane, Daniel Flynn; Josh O'Donoghue, Dean Kelly, Cathal McNally. Subs: Ronan Scanlon for Cathal McNally (40 minutes); Fionn O'Grady for Dean Kelly (46 minutes); Ian McKeon for Ryan Rainey (53 minutes); Mark Newman for Sean McKeon (58 minutes).

REFEREE: Conor Daly.