Carbury duo lead Paul Cribbin-managed Edenderry to Leinster Schools title win over Naas
St Mary's SS Edenderry 2-14
Leinster Schools Junior A Football final
A virtuoso first half display from a strong St Mary's Edenderry team set them on their way to a comprehensive 12-point win over Naas CBS in Hawkfield on Wednesday afternoon. The superior physicality, composure and scoring threat of the Offaly school was the basis for their commanding victory, and they never looked in any real trouble as they constantly held a sizeable lead throughout.
St Mary's - managed by Emmet McDonnell, Paul Costello and Kildare senior footballer Paul Cribbing - featured nine players from the county, all of whom were representing the Balyna and Carbury clubs. It was the Carbury duo of Mark Cully and Jack Smyth who inflicted the most damage upon Naas as they chalked up an impressive 1-11 between them, with Cully's first half haul of 1-4 from play having a major bearing on proceedings.
St Mary's had breezed into a four-point lead by the time Naas even managed to get out of their own half and threaten the opposition goal, mainly due to the fact that a stiff breeze was hampering their progress up the field and the dominance of the Mary's half-forward line was keeping them pressed in towards the Kildare school's goal.
A fine long range free from Smyth opened the scoring, and from the resultant kickout Killian Galligan fielded a high ball before setting up full-forward Sean Nolan to clip a close range shot over. Two impressive efforts from Cully doubled his side's advantage, before Naas eventually enjoyed a brief respite by gaining some possession in opposition territory, but they came away empty handed as errors crept into their play.
Smyth added another free, but Naas finally got off the mark in the tenth minute when Adam Byrne slotted over a point following a quick exchange with Paddy McDermott.
They failed to score for the next 15 minutes however, and St Mary's began a push to assume total dominance. Smyth was on target from a placed ball once again in the 12th minute, and when Mark Cully's speculative shot from the right wing bounced awkwardly to evade Naas goalkeeper Aaron Lawler and end up in the back of the net, it seemed like a long way back for the County Town scholars.
Cully added another fine score from long range, before Al Bergin finally hit the target for Naas once again when he broke through to slot the ball over from close range. Cully would have the final say in the first half however, landing his fourth long range point of the afternoon as St Mary's went into the break with a 1-9 to 0-2 lead.
It was always going to be an uphill battle for Naas in the second half, even if they did have the breeze, but they started in style upon the turnaround as points from Paddy McDermott and Adam Byrne gave them a glimmer of hope. The tie was put to bed with about 10 minutes of the second half played however, as Smyth's shot from the right wing dropped short and midfielder Sean Bannon booted the ball to the net, giving St Mary's a lead of 11 points.
There would be no way back for Naas now, and despite Al Bergin finding the net after being picked out by an excellent pass from Adam Byrne, the blues could hardly ruffle the feathers of the eventual victors before the full-time whistle.
Scorers for Naas CBS: A Bergin 1-1, A Byrne 0-2, P McDermott and D Costello(1f) 0-1 each.
Scorers for St Mary's: M Cully 1-4, J Smyth 0-7f, S Bannon 1-0, D Leech 0-3(1f) and S Nolan 0-1.
Naas CBS
A Lawler; J Lawler, C O'Gallchobhair, J Hamilton; E Prizeman, L Broderick, P McDermott; I Blackburne, H Carroll; A Bergin(S Morrissey 46mins), A Beirne(M O'Byrne 26mins), E Conneff; S O'Domhnaill(E Cotter 60mins), C Johnston(D Costello 50mins), A Byrne.
St Mary's SS Edenderry
S Tyrrell; C Moran, D Cummins, C Thompson; S Flynn, C Farrell, R Coffey(B Nolan 60mins); S Bannon, S Coffey(D Leech BC 37mins); D Lowry, M Cully, S Kavanagh(A Mangan 40mins); K Galligan, S Nolan, J Smyth.