Picture Courtesy Paul Barrett
By Conor Martin
Newly crowned Go-Ahead Dublin Senior 1 Football Championship champions Cuala turn their attention to provincial glory as they begin their AIB Leinster Club Senior Football Championship this weekend at the quarter-final stage against Kildare champions Naas in Newbridge.
Naas were crowned Kildare Senior Football Champions for the 12th time at the end of last month.
After beating Johnstownbridge in the preliminary round by five points before dominating their group as they beat Confey 3-16 to 0-5 and they cemented their path to the knockout stage with wins over Eadestown and Newbridge Sarsfields.
In the quarter-final, they came up against Johnstownbridge once more. Although this encounter wasn’t as close as the one earlier in the Championship and they advanced with a massive 21-point win. Their place in the final would be secured with ease too and they dispatched Athy by ten points to set up a final showdown with Celbridge.
In the final, they were given their toughest test yet and emerged winners by just a point as they claimed the Kildare crown for the fourth year in a row.
Dermot Hanafin stuck the ball in the net early on but were fairly wasteful in all honesty and should have kicked on. Darragh Kirwan, however, would get Naas firing in the right direction and kicked five points himself, including the winning point in the 60th minute.
Celbridge would pull themselves back into the contest, which left Naas with a narrow 2-point lead at the break.
The challengers to Naas’ throne, Celbridge, grabbed themselves a goal thanks to Hugh McGrillen, but they also lost Paddy Brophy to a red card who was subbed on and was sent to the sideline just 60 seconds after coming on.
Celbridge would take the lead as the final whistle approached thanks to Davy Hughes, but the numerical advantage Naas had would ultimately see them lift the trophy as Alex Beirne drew Naas level before Kirwan would send the ball soaring over the bar late on to clinch the county championship.
Kirwan’s threat is something Cuala need to keep on a tight leash if they are to advance in the provincial championship and they’ll also need to keep an eye on Hanafin and Beirne. At the back, Eoin Lawlor and Conor McCarthy are two of a range of defensive figures that can and will seek to frustrate the Dublin champions.
Maintaining a 100% record all the way to the county championship, Cuala beat Clontarf on the opening day of the 2024 Championship before thrashing St Judes and Fingallians to finish on top of the pile in Group 1.
They would put in two more impressive shifts in the last eight and the semi-final, overcoming Castleknock and Ballymun Kickhams, respectively, to reach their first Dublin Senior Football Championship final since 1988.
Up against a strong Kilamcud Crokes side that was chasing four senior titles in a row, Cuala delivered an excellent battling performance with 14 men to claim their first-ever Clerys Cup.
Charlie McMorrow, Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne and Michael Fitzsimons helped Cuala settle early on during the early stages of the final before Con O’Callaghan and Luke Keating helped the Dalkey club gain control of the contest.
Cal Doran was also in form and helped Cuala into a lead of six after the restart, but Craig Dias, Shane Walsh and Paul Mannion would keep the Kilamcud Crokes bid for another county title alive.
Luke Ward was only on the pitch a few seconds before he netted after being played in by Mannion to tie up the final before Con O’Callaghan received his marching orders.
Crokes failed to make the extra man count and deep into injury-time with a replay looming. Keating’s free dropped short of the posts and fell to Eoin Kennedy, who fisted the ball over the bar to claim the county title for Cuala.
Keating and Doran offer a lot in the forward line and of course, they have the talented figure of Fitzsimons in defence to help them over the line this weekend.
You can buy tickets here:
The game will also be shown live on RTÉ 2 this Saturday, throw-in is at 7:15 pm.
