Naas confirm their quality against Confey
UPMC SHC, GROUP A, ROUND 1
NAAS 4-21
CONFEY 0-9
Daire Walsh at Celbridge GAA
Bolstered by their sizeable inter-county contingent, defending champions Naas laid down a marker with a comprehensive defeat of Confey in round one of Kildare Senior Hurling Championship Group A at Celbridge on Friday.
Leading 1-6 to 0-3 at the first half water break, the Sallins Road outfit remained in the ascendancy from that point onwards and appear hell-bent on securing a third consecutive county senior title.
Key figures in Kildare’s march towards promotion from Division 2B of the National Hurling League earlier this year, Jack Sheridan (1-5) and Brian Byrne (1-4) were the scorers-in-chief for Naas on the day. Simon Leacy and Conor Dowling also grabbed a goal apiece, while another Lilywhites star – Cathal Dowling – added a brace of scores from the bench.
Frank Bass and the ever-influential Paul Divilly did their best for Confey with a combined haul of seven points, but the Leixlip-based side were ultimately second best in this contest.
There was little to separate the teams during the early exchanges, with Jack Sheridan and James Burke points for Naas being matched by Bass and Divilly at the opposite end. The holders soon settled into their groove, however, as Kevin Whelan and Sheridan singles preceded a superb major from Leacy in the 11th-minute.
Divilly eventually added to Confey’s tally and the dynamic midfielder was also on target in response to back-to-back efforts from Naas duo Burke and Rian Boran. Eoin Lynch and Bass (free) contributed additional points for the challengers in the closing moments of the opening period, but their much-fancied opponents were firmly in the driving seat at the interval.
Having taken his time to settle into the contest, Byrne amassed a 1-2 salvo in the space of two minutes to give Naas a 2-10 to 0-6 buffer heading into the second half.
Confey got the ball rolling on the resumption through a Ben O’Boyle point, only for Naas to re-establish their credentials in fine style. Despite beginning the game in the full-back line, Leacy spent much of the game around the middle-third and he released Conor Dowling at the end of a blistering run for his side’s third goal on 32 minutes.
Bass knocked over a brace of frees to cancel out Shane Ryan and Byrne strikes, but the full-forward’s latter effort in the 41st-minute was Confey’s final score of the night.
In the remaining stages of the action, Naas continued to attack at will and registered an impressive 1-9 without reply. In the space of nine minutes, the impactful Cathal Dowling (two), Byrne, Burke, Ryan and Sheridan (free) rattled off six unanswered points.
This was followed by a Sheridan goal with nine minutes remaining on the clock (a delicate flicked finish over Confey netminder Shane Quinn), before Ryan, wing-back Kevin Kelleher and Sheridan himself all dissected the uprights to conclude a fine evening at the office for Naas.
Scorers: Naas: Jack Sheridan 1-5 (0-2 frees), Brian Byrne 1-4 (0-2 frees), Simon Leacy, Conor Dowling 1-0 each, James Burke, Shane Ryan 0-3 each, Rian Boran, Cathal Dowling 0-2 each, Kevin Whelan, Kevin Kelleher 0-1 each.
Confey: Frank Bass 0-4 (4 frees), Paul Divilly 0-3 (1 frees), Ben O’Boyle, Eoin Lynch 0-1 each.
NAAS: Cormac Gallagher; Conor Gormley, Richard Hogan, Simon Leacy; Kevin Whelan, Ross Kelly, Kevin Kelleher; Rian Boran, Sean Mac Donnacha; James Burke, Brian Byrne, Conor Dowling; Jack Sheridan, Shane Ryan, John McKeon. Subs: Cathal Dowling for Hogan (39), Kevin Aherne for Byrne (52), Ciaran Tobin for Burke (56), Diarmuid Greene for McKeon (58).
CONFEY: Shane Quinn; Fiachra Lynch, Kieran Kilbane, Paul Ferrick; Ian Baker, Sean Leamy, Ronan McNamara; Aidan Ryan, Paul Divilly; Shane Lawless, Colm Chan, Ben O’Boyle; Eoin Lynch, Frank Bass, Neil Ryan. Subs: Dan Lynch for Leamy (56), Enda Bannon for F Lynch (58).
REFEREE: Conor Daly.