Kilmacud Crokes see off Naas in Leinster club championship

Kilmacud Crokes 3-14 Naas 0-14

The flat season came to an end at Naas Racecourse on an afternoon the town’s footballers failed to raise a gallop in their attempts to jump a considerable Leinster club championship hurdle at Parnell Park.

Kilmacud Crokes had beaten Naas 0-14 to 0-7 when the sides met in last season’s provincial club football final but the back-to-back Kildare champions were unable to make amends in this quarter-final meeting at the Donnycarney venue.

Naas gifted Crokes a goal in the sixth minute and the Dublin outfit led from that moment until the final whistle. Crokes were 2-7 to 0-7 in the ascendancy at the turnaround and Hugh Kenny’s goal seven minutes after the restart killed off the Naas challenge.

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Crokes will now face Portarlington in a Leinster semi-final at Croke Park in a fortnight, but no matter how deep they go in this year’s club championship – and the ambition clearly is to go all the way – the Stillorgan side do not expect to have Paul Mannion available.

Mannion was present on Sunday, sporting a protective boot and hobbling around on crutches as he continues his recovery from ankle surgery.

“No, he still has screws in,” replied Kilmacud manager Robbie Brennan when asked if Mannion might be available should they get out of Leinster. “They have to come out and with the way it withers the muscle away and that, so no. We won’t be pushing him. If he wasn’t with Dublin you might say we could take a gamble but he’s committed to going back there so you have to be respectful of that.

“I’d love to have him, obviously, but for me it is over to Dessie and Dublin for Paul now and to get him right for that intercounty season ahead.”

It has been a challenging season for Crokes on the injury front. In the warm-up for this game Conor Casey suffered a shoulder dislocation and as the national anthem was playing, the club’s medics were on the pitch trying to pop it back in but were unable to do so, forcing a change just before throw-in.

Crokes did not allow it to be a distraction though and by the ninth minute they led 1-4 to 0-2. The goal was a calamitous one from a Naas perspective. Having got blown for overcarrying, Naas defender Cathal Daly placed the ball on the ground just on the edge of the D. But the Naas goalkeeper, Luke Mullins, had been involved in the play and was out of position.

Kilmacud forward Dara Mullin spotted the opportunity, picked up the ball and calmly kicked the free towards an empty net – the sight of the Naas goalkeeper scampering back carrying echoes of Mikey Sheehy’s famous goal against Paddy Cullen in 1978.

“Was it Robbie Kelleher who gave the ball to Mikey Sheehy? It was a bit like that type of stuff,” said Brennan.

“When they put the ball down you could see it straight away, there was a gap, and to be fair to Dara it was quick-thinking and luckily it went in because if it didn’t you’d be saying we should have taken the point.”

Alex Beirne scored a couple of nice points shortly after and Naas did manage to reduce the deficit to the minimum midway through the opening half, but Craig Dias sliced through the Naas defence in the 23rd minute and unleashed a right-footed rocket to put Crokes 2-4 to 0-6 ahead.

“It was a massive score because I think they had a bit of momentum at that stage, they were clawing back the bit of a lead we had,” said Brennan.

Crokes were six ahead at the break and Kenny’s goal early in the second half, which was set up by the outstanding Andrew McGowan, ended the game as a contest.

Darragh Kirwan floated over some nice scores during the second half while Shane Walsh, again, and Shane Cunningham delivered an exhibition of score-taking for Crokes. The reigning Leinster champions only registered two wides over the course of the match.

The semi-final against Portarlington will be a repeat of last season’s clash between the sides at the same stage of the competition, a tight affair Crokes edged 1-11 to 0-12.

“I thought they were the best team we played in Leinster last year,” cautioned Brennan.

KILMACUD CROKES: C Ferris; T Clancy, M Mullin, D O’Brien; C O’Shea, R O’Carroll, A McGowan; C Dias (1-0), B Shovlin; A Jones (0-2), S Walsh (0-4, two frees), S Horan (0-1); H Kenny (1-0), S Cunningham (0-4, one point from a mark), D Mullin (1-1, goal from a free, one point from a mark). Subs: T Fox (0-1) for Kenny (39 mins); C O’Connor (0-1, point from a mark) for Horan (43 mins); J Kenny for McGowan (54 mins); A Quinn for M Mullin (55 mins); B Sheehy for Cunningham (59 mins)

NAAS: L Mullins (0-2, both from 45s); C Daly, B Byrne, E Doyle; T Browne (0-1), M Maguire, Paddy McDermott; J Burke, A Beirne (0-3); B Kane, D Hanafin, Paul McDermott; E Callaghan (0-2), D Kirwan (0-4), C Doyle (0-1). Subs: J Cleary for Paul McDermott (half-time); J McKevitt for Kane (43 mins); K Cummins for C Doyle (50 mins); B Stynes (0-1) for Maguire (50 mins); E Prizeman for Browne (59 mins)

Referee: A Nolan (Wicklow)