Kildare SFC Final: Naas become first club in over 70 years to win three-in-a-row

Naas 0-13 Celbridge 0-11

Naas have become the first club in over 70 years to win three consecutive Kildare senior football titles.

Sarsfields, between 1950-52, were the last side to have achieved the three-in-a-row in Kildare but Naas cemented their standing as the current powerhouse in the county with a battling victory over Celbridge at Netwatch Cullen Park.

The game was played at the Carlow venue as St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge is currently undergoing renovation work.

This football success comes just seven days after Naas claimed a fifth successive Kildare senior hurling championship – with Brian Byrne starting in both finals.

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Naas led 0-7 to 0-4 at the interval here and while Celbridge, aiming for a first county title since 2008, closed the gap to the minimum on three occasions in the second half they just could not get level.

Nine minutes of injury-time were played after an injury to Tony Archbold delayed the game midway through the second half, with the Celbridge player eventually taken off the field on a stretcher.

Naas were three points ahead deep in the added time when points by Aaron Browne and Paddy Brophy reduced the deficit to the minimum again, and Celbridge then had a late turnover to draw level but were unable to create a scoring opportunity from the possession.

Instead, Naas won the ball back and set off on a counterattack with a heavy overload of players, where Man of the Match Darragh Kirwan ultimately popped over the insurance score – which was his fourth point of the contest.

“It’s not talent alone, there’s so much more that goes into it,” said Naas captain Eoin Doyle of the three-in-a-row milestone.

“It’s hunger, the resilience to keep going, there are so many things that have to come right to win one, never mind three.

“We’re just very lucky we have a group of players that are hungry and a management that are experienced. It just all clicked, thank God.”

But it was far from easy, and a black card picked up by Doyle in the 49th minute did not help their cause. Naas led by two points when he was sent to the sinbin for 10 minutes, but his colleagues performed a decent job of damage limitation by holding a one-point advantage when he returned to the field of play.

“I wouldn’t have been allowed back in the town if that hadn’t worked out,” he smiled afterwards.

Current Naas manager Joe Murphy lives only a stone’s throw from Netwatch Cullen Park, so he had the unique honour of leading a Kildare team to a county final victory in his native Carlow.

And Naas certainly looked more at home in the early stages of the encounter as they built up a 0-7 to 0-2 lead, though a late two-point spurt by Celbridge kept them in touch at the turnaround. There was a brief clash between some players entering the tunnel at the break and it seemed to fire up Celbridge because they started the second half strongly through a brace of Davy Hughes points. Suddenly there was only one between the sides, but Naas showed all of their experience and composure to register the next two scores.

“We got within a point and they hit a long kick-out over the top, and after coming from a position where you were putting them under pressure they got what we could class as an easy score. They just kept us at arm’s length all the time,” admitted Celbridge boss Micheál McDermott.

“It has been a great journey this year for the team, they have suffered heartache and pain from losing semi-final after semi-final, this year we went one further and got to a final, so maybe the pain of today and the loss of today might drive them to something more in the future.”

Naas will now turn their attention to the Leinster club championship. They have been beaten in that competition by Kilmacud Crokes for the last two years, the 2021 defeat was a provincial final. Naas face Meath champions Summerhill in a Leinster club quarter-final in two weeks – the next target is a provincial title.

“Naas are a real quality outfit,” added McDermott. “They have strength in depth on their panel and they will trouble an awful lot of teams in Leinster as well, because I’d say they will have turned their eye to that now very quickly.”

NAAS: Luke Mullins (0-2, two frees); Mark Maguire, Conor McCarthy, Cathal Daly; Eoghan Prizeman, Eoin Doyle, Brian Byrne; Paul McDermott (0-1), James Burke; Paddy McDermott, Alex Beirne (0-3, one free), Jack McKevitt; Darragh Kirwan (0-4), Dermot Hanafin (0-1), Seán Hanafin (0-1).

Subs: Tom Browne for McKevitt, Kevin Cummins (0-1) for D Hanafin (both 54 mins); Eamonn Callaghan for Daly (62)

CELBRIDGE: Shane McNamara; Liam O’Flynn, John Clarke, Mick Konstantin; Dean O’Donoghue, Mick O’Grady, Peter McAteer; Kevin O’Callaghan (0-1), Paddy Wall; Kevin Flynn (0-1), Fergal Conway (0-1), Tony Archbold; Davy Hughes (0-3, one free), Aaron Browne (0-1), Paddy Brophy (0-3, two frees).

Subs: Killian Browne for Aaron Browne (38 mins); Niall O’Regan (0-1) for P Wall (40); Conor Plunkett for Archbold (45); Johnny Owens for Plunkett (48); Aaron Browne for Hughes (58).

Referee: Paddy McDermott (Ellistown).