Maynooth reach Kildare SHC with win over Éire Óg Corra Choill

Maynooth 2-26

Éire Óg Corra Choill 2-16

Maynooth will face Naas in the 2025 UPMC Kildare Senior Hurling Championship final after their win over Éire Óg Corra Choill in the more competitive of the day's Semi-Finals.

It was less than 30 seconds into this game when Éire Óg Corra Choill’s Gary Johnson broke his first hurl and in some ways it was a sign of his side's early intensity as they took the game to Maynooth.

They opened the scoring through a Liam Dempsey free, which was sharply answered at the other end of field by Martin Quilty.

Éire Óg hit the net after just three minutes of action and they had corner-forward Sean O’Neill to thank for his textbook forward play. O’Neill took possession of the ball with his back to goal before turning, jinking right and left to beat his man and smashing the ball into the back of the net.

After points from Oran Dunne and Adam Jordan for Maynooth with another Dempsey free going the other way, the leading side were sitting on a two-point buffer.

Maynooth’s ability to put together a run of scores was crucial in this game and they were the kind of dominant spells that Éire Óg rarely created.

Two quick-fire scores levelled this game after 10 minutes of play with two of Maynooth’s best in Tom Power and Cathal McCabe adding to their tallies.

Moments later, Éire Óg goalscorer Sean O’Neill got in again but this time was dragged to the floor by Matt Eustace and a penalty was awarded. Liam Dempsey stepped forward and saw his driven effort to the left of the goalkeeper brilliantly, outrageously tipped over the bar by Sean Bean.

It was tit for tat in the minutes that followed with Tom Power leading the way for Maynooth’s scoring with Éire Óg sharing scoring responsibilities.

With the game level at 1-5 to 0-8 after 20 minutes, Maynooth had a golden opportunity for their goal when a stray sideline ball from Paul Dolan inadvertently sent Tadhg Forde through on goal. Paul Dermody advanced to put pressure but was a spectator as Forde’s effort trickled goalwards but came back out off the base of the post.

Éire Óg led again after a Paul Dolan free, but Maynooth put together a run of four points without reply in the five minutes before the break.

The Maynooth surge sent them in at the break with an 0-12 to 1-6 lead.

Despite their eventual defeat, Éire Óg had their moments in the early throws of the second half when Sean O’Neill carved out yet another chance for himself, but this time was denied by Sean Bean.

The scores were flowing freely after the break and Éire Óg were still within three points seven minutes into the second half before a quick-fire Maynooth 1-1 finally put some distance between the teams.

Adam Jordan found his fellow corner-forward Tadhg Forde who in turn found the net with a chip up to himself and volley into the back of the net.

Éire Óg never went away to their credit but the quick one-two punch of Maynooth’s goal and a Kevin Dunne point left them seven clear at 1-17 to 1-10 with 20 minutes to go.

Maynooth’s second goal came 13 minutes from the end and Kevin Dunne turned provider for Cian Forde who snuck the ball in at the near post to put the leading side 11 clear.

It was the killer blow in this Semi-Final and Maynooth finished as the comfortable victors.

Éire Óg grabbed their second goal, again through Sean O’Neill, in additional time to reduce the margin but it is Maynooth who progress to this year’s SHC final.

Maynooth, Tom Power 0-9 (0-6 frees), Cathal McCabe 0-7 (0-1 frees), Oran Byrne 0-4, Tadhg Forde 1-0, Cian Forde 1-0, Martin Quilty 0-2, Kevin Dunne 0-2, Adam Jordan 0-1, Conor O'Grady 0-1.

Éire Óg Corra Choill, Liam Dempsey 0-8 (0-6 frees, 0-1 penalty), Sean O'Neill 2-0, Paul Dolan 0-3 (0-2 frees), Jack Higgins 0-2, Scott Cramer 0-1, Gary Johnson 0-1, Donnchadh Fitzpatrick 0-1 (0-1 frees).

Maynooth: Sean Bean; Conall Knox, Daniel O'Meara, Matt Eustace; Ronan Dunne, Martin Quilty, Kevin Carroll; Cian Forde, Oran Byrne; Tom Power, Cathal McCabe, Ciaran Flanagan; Adam Jordan, Kevin Dunne. Subs: Ciaran Dunne for Kevin Carroll (35 minutes), Conor O'Grady for Ciaran Flanagan (44 minutes), Cormac Nolan for Tadhg Forde (53 minutes), Micheal Hogan for Cian Forde (56 minutes), David Eustace for Tom Power (60 minutes).

EOCC: Paul Dermody; Conor Sullivan, James Dolan, Daniel Murray; Cormac Byrne, Paul Dolan, Michael Clohessy; Gary Johnson, Jack Higgins; Scott Cramer, Kevin Connor, Fionan Manders; Sean O'Neill, Liam Dempsey, Cian O'Reilly. Subs: Padraic Cribbin for Fionan Manders (Half-time), Donnchadh Fitzpatrick for Scott Cramer (41 minutes), Rory O'Neill for Liam Dempsey (52 minutes).

Referee: Brian Kearney

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