Naas move to second following win over Clane in Kildare SFL

Naas moved up to second spot in the Kildare GAA Hanlon Concrete Leinster Leader Senior Football League Division 1 following an impressive win over a below-strength Clane side at Naas GAA Headquarters on Thursday evening last.

Clane, on the other hand, drop to second from bottom but they do have a game in hand, along with their two other remaining games.

Ironically it was the visitors who opened the scoring with points from Sean Dunne and Eoin Twohig but Naas gradually got into their stride with points from Paul McDermott and Liam O’Connor before Neil Aherne found the net following a move that began in his own full bafk line and within a minute Evan Dunne was taking the ball out of his net again after initially he made an excellent save from Dermot Hanafin, Elliott Beirne was first to react to raise a second green flag inside 90 seconds to make it 2-3 to 0-2.

Kildare U20 star, who had a very impressive game, made a fine catch to set up Shane O’Sullivan for a point and on 20 minutes, another U120 county man, Adam Fitzpatrick hit the net following a quick side-line and a few minutes later the same player repeated that feat as he beat Luke Mullins to level up the game at 2-3 apiece,

Naas responded with three quick points and while Daniel Colbert raised a white flag for Clane, Naas finished with another goal, this time Dermot Hanafin getting his second goal as we reached the half-time, Naas leading 3-7 to 2-4.

That was about as good as it got for the boys in white as Naas blew them away in the opening five or six minutes hitting a very impressive 1-5, beginning with ‘keeper Luke Muillins landing an excellent two-pointer free following by points from Elliott Beirne, Sean Hanafin, Kevin Cummins before Dermot Hanafin finished a fine move to the bottom hand corner of Evan Dunne’s net to make it 4-12 to 2-4, 36 minutes on the clock and Clane yet to score in the second half.

Killilan O’Sullivan, Adam Fitzpatrick and Shane O’Sullivan, free, did reply for Clane while P

Addy McDermott and Elliott Beirne hit points for the home side.

Naas were playing exceptional football at this stage, with Tom Browne and Mark Maguire showing up well at the back, linking up very well with their fellow players up front.

The final six points were divided equally between the sides as Naas won impressively and comfortably on a final score line oof Naas 4-17 Clane 2-10.

Scorers: Naas, Dermot Hanafin 2-1, Elliot Beirne 1-2, Niall Ahern 1-1 (1 free), Liam O’Connor 0-3, Kevin Cummins 0-2, Paddy McDermott 0-2, Luke Mullins 0-2 (2 two-pointer free), Paul McDermott 0-1, Sean Hanafin 0-1, Evin Lenehan 0-1, Mark Maguire 0-1.

Clane, Adam Fitzpatrick 2-1, Shane O’Sullivan 0-5 (3 frees), Killian O’Sullivan 0-1, Sean Dunne 0-1, Eoin Twohig 0-1, Danel Colbert 0-1.

NAAS: Luke Mullins; Mark Magukire, Eoin Doyle, Conor Breen; Tom Browne, Rob Murray, Paddy McDermott; Paul McDermott, Conor McCarthy; LIam O’Connor, Kevin Cummins, Elliott Beirne; Neil Aherne, Sean Hanafin, Dermot Hanafin. Subs: Evan Lenehan for Elliott Beirne (45 minutes); Paddy Kelly for Paddy McDermott (46 minutes); Joe Murphy for Dermot Hanafin (55 minutes); Drew Costello for Liam O’Connor (55 minutes).

CLANE: Evan Dunne; HUgh Prendergast, David Vaughan, Paddy Connolly; Sam Reilly, Sean Christanseen, Sean Cullen; Sean Dunne, Eoin Twohig; Caniel Colbert, Cian Shanahan, Adam Fitzpatrick; Shane O’Connor, Shane O’Sullivan, Killian O’Sullivan.

REFEREE: Henry Barrett.