U21 A Hurling final report: Composed Celbridge complete the double against youthful Naas team

Naas 1- 10

Kildare U21 A Championship final

Matthew Faughnan reports from Naas

Gerry Keegan’s speed, stick-work and guile got Celbridge over the line in this year’s U21 decider. Naas started with a very young team and their lack of experience was evident at times. Despite this, Naas kept themselves in contention for the full hour with a courageous performance and could have actually won the game had they been more clinical in the closing stages.

The teams traded scores for the remainder of the half, Keegan and Kevin Murphy notching the scores for the Hazlehatch men while Brain Byrne, Eoin O’Heir, Jack Sheridan and Peter Moran all got scores for Naas.

At halftime, Celbridge were ahead on a scoreline of 1-5 to 0-6. On the resumption, Lacey scored a great individual goal, rounding his man near the endline and dispatching with minimum fuss. Naas, with Peter Moran to the fore, then pushed on to lead by 2 points.

This was as good as it got for Naas however as Celbridge began to chip away at their lead. Celbridge full forward, Ronan Byrne moved out to midfield where, along with Murphy, they dominated proceedings for the remainder of the game. Despite this, Naas somehow managed to stay in the game, thanks in no small part to the goalkeeping of Jeff Keane, who pulled off two saves from point blank range. On 55 minutes, Naas wingback, Conor Dowling, scored a monster point to bring the score to 1 – 10 a piece.

With five minutes to go, despite being under the cosh for the entire half, Naas were presented with two gilt edged chances to take the spoils; one fell to Lacey, the other to Sheridan, both had goals on their mind when points would have been a more sensible option and unfortunately for Naas, the chances yielded neither.

Celbridge

Niall Reynor, Paul Kelly, Cillian Byrne, Aaron Doran, Michael O’Donovan, Shane O’Flynn, Rory Feehan, Kevin Murphy 0 -1, Sean O’Sullivan, Niall Kenny 1 - 0, Gerry Keegan 0 - 8 (4f), Sean Lawlor, Ciaran O’Regan 0 -1, Ronan Byrne 0 - 2, Ciaran O’Shaghnessy. Subs used: Michael Gallagher.

Naas

Jeff Keane, Conor Gormley, Rob Byrne, Kieran Maher, Conor Dowling 0 – 1, Diarmuid Greene, Cathal Dowling, Eoin O’Hehir 0 – 3 (3f), Brian Byrne 0 – 1, Matt Moran, Peter Moran 0 – 2, Jack Sheridan 0 – 1 (1f), Conor Grogan 0 – 1, Odhran Loughran 0 – 1, Simon Lacey 1 – 0. Subs used: Michael Gainey, Conor Foley, Conor Lynch.