Naas dig deep to edge by local rivals Éire Óg/Corrachoill and seal county final berth
Naas 2-18
Éire Óg/Corrachoill 1-17
Kildare SHC semi-final
Naas sealed their place in the Kildare SHC final thanks to a four-point victory in what was a titanic struggle with local rivals Éire Óg/Corrachoill in St Conleth's Park. An 11-point haul from Richie Ryan and a couple of goals from Jack Sheridan proved decisive for the team from the County Town as they found a way past a superb Éire Óg challenge.
After an initial period where neither side managed to register a score for the first four minutes, it was Naas who finally got off the mark by finding the net. It was their main goalscoring threat, Jack Sheridan, that raised the green flag as he emphatically finished to the net from close range after being picked out by a superb crossfield ball from Brian Byrne.
Ryan then slotted over his first free of the evening with a relatively straightforward effort, but a couple of points from Barry Cormack and Kevin Connor at the other end narrowed the gap to two points with 10 minutes gone.
Naas began to warm to their task near this stage however, and they went on to score six of the next seven points as they looked to turn the screw. Ryan kept the scoreboard ticking over with three frees in quick succession, though Garry Johnson did manage a response at the other end with a fine effort from the left wing.
Naas full-forward Mick Purcell began to exert more of an influence on proceeding midway through the half, and he displayed great strength to gather a long ball from Kevin Whelan, hold off the challenge of Brian Fitzpatrick and float a high, hanging effort over the bar from 40 metres out. He doubled his tally two minutes later with a smart point on the turn, while Ryan added another point from a free for good measure.
Naas were 1-7 to 0-3 clear at that stage, and Éire Óg/Corrachoill were in danger of slipping out of the game without putting up too much of a fight. To their credit, they enjoyed a good spell towards the end of the first half. A couple of pointed frees from Cormack sandwiched superb score from Johnson as they managed to narrow the gap to four points.
As the half entered the final stages both sides found a couple of scores each, with Ryan registering both Naas points, and Cormack and Liam Power pointing for Éire Óg. Those scores led to Naas going into the interval with a lead of 1-9 to 0-8, although their dominance should have seen them further ahead by that stage.
Éire Óg clearly looked to up the intensity and bring more physicality to proceedings at the start of the second half, and it was evident as they looked hungry for possession and they used it well when they got it.
They scored the first two points upon the restart, with Cormack slotting over a free before Evan Dempsey landed a superb effort from long range. It took Naas all of seven minutes to issue a response, but when it came it was exquisite. County forward Brian Byrne angled over a beautiful score from the left wing, before repeating the trick moments later with a near identical score.
The game then started to sway from side to side as both teams traded blows. Cormack got a couple of points either side of an effort from Richie Ryan, while Owen Houlihan added a fine score after some hard graft from Liam Power close to the Naas goal.
Sheridan and Dempsey traded blows at either ends with a couple of fabulous points as Naas looked to be just about hanging onto their two-point lead at this stage. Jack Sheridan took control of the game then however, scoring a fine point before bursting through the Éire Óg backline and skillfully finding the net from close range.
Any momentum gained from that goal was quickly lost however, as Evan Dempsey took the ball straight from the poc out and ran at the Naas defence before offloading to Liam Power, allowing the rangy full-forward to slam the ball home and cut the gap to two points again.
Two Richie Ryan frees helped to settle Naas down once again and restore a four-point cushion, but a free from Evan Dempsey helped to leave the tie finely balanced going into injury time.
Éire Óg were in desperate need of a goal that would level the game but it never came. Naas held out for the win thanks to late scores from Byrne and Ryan and they march towards the final where they will play either Celbridge or Coill Dubh.
In the other semi-final earlier on Saturday afternoon it finished Celbridge 0-16 Coill Dubh 2-10. A replay will be played at a later date to decide who plays Naas in the final.
Scorers for Naas: R Ryan 0-11(9f), J Sheridan 2-2, B Byrne 0-3, and M Purcell 0-2.
Scorers for Éire Óg Corrachoill: B Cormack 0-7(7f), L Power 1-1, E Dempsey 0-3(1f), G Johnson 0-2, P Dermody(1f), O Houlihan, D O'Toole and K Connor 0-1 each.
Naas
C Gallagher; D McDonnacha, R Bergin, D McSweeney(K Whelan 53mins); S Walsh, S Gainey, P Sullivan; E O'Hehir, J O'Malley(O Loughran 36mins); K Whelan(K Maher 49mins), R Ryan, P Cocoman(J Boyle 45mins); J Sheridan, M Purcell, B Byrne.
Éire Óg Corrachoill
P Dermody; C McGrath, B Fitzpatrick, N Connolly(M Begley 55mins); R Whelan, K Connor(D Boyle 18mins), J Dempsey; O Houlihan, A Lagrue(C Kielty 54mins); E Dempsey, P Kennedy, G Johnson; B Cormack(D O'Toole 45mins), L Power, R O'Neill.