Best wishes to Naas CBS

Leinster A Schools Final

Naas CBS V Marist College, Athlone

Saturday 10th March, 2pm 

Venue: Bord Na Mona O’Connor Park, Tullamore 

By Robert Cribbin

Tomorrow Saturday 10^th March will be a landmark day for Kildare football as Naas CBS become the first school from the county in almost a century to contest a Leinster A Schools Football Final.

To be precise its 1923 since a Kildare team got this far and its one of those statistics that’s very hard to believe and with Kildare being one of the traditional football counties in the province it seems strange as to why they have struggled in the competition.

Ardscoil Trionoide of Athy, Scoil Mhuire of Clane and Patrician of Newbridge have all gone close in recent years but it is the County Town school who have broken down that wall.

All this has to be taken with a caveat however as St.Marys of Edenderry won their first Leinster title in 2009 with the likes of Paul Cribbin, Sean Hurley,  Des Holton and Brian O’Flaherty from Kildare clubs all involved

The Offaly school then won provincial honours again in 2012 before going all the way to win the All Ireland in 2013 with current Kildare stars Luke and Daniel Flynn playing starring roles as well as Clogherinkoe’s Cein McMonagle.

Naas have gone through their Championship campaign unbeaten and will now meet Marist of Athlone in next weekend’s game.

Both sides are after their own bit of history as neither have ever won the competition and will look to be the first to inscribe their names on the inaugural BR.Bosco Cup.

Unlike Kildare schools though, the Lake county do have  a bit of pedigree in the competition as sides from Athlone, Mullingar and Moate have all claimed the title in the recent past.

Naas opened up their Championship campaign with a draw against Good Counsel in Wexford last November.

It was a game they really threw away as they led 1-12 to 1-5 with only five minutes remaining but it was a match they were extremely wasteful in and that came back to bite with two late Good Counsel goals snatching the draw.

Next up was Edenderry in Raheens GAA and it was a must win game for both if they wanted to qualify and after a tight first half Naas took control after the break as Luke Griffin and Aaron Deegan scored second half goals to give them a 3-8 to 1-6 victory and book their place in the next round.

The Quarter Final pitted them up against Knockbeg College from Carlow and after another tough game they battled to a six point victory.

Like the Edenderry game, Naas really took command in the second period and after leading by a point at half time with the help of a Killian Thompson goal they soon pushed clear upon the resumption with a goal from Two Mile House’s Tony O’Connor and five points from the boot of Colm Joyce.

Colaiste Eoin laid in wait in the semi-final two weeks ago and right on time Naas produced their best performance to date with a brilliant 2-8 to 0-6 victory.

Colaiste Eoin had earlier beaten Scoil Mhuire of Clane so a lot was expected of them but they were blown away as Naas restricted them to just three points from play with a commanding defensive effort as Darragh Kirwan and Luke Griffin got the goals that sealed the result.

In contrast Marist of Athlone came out of a group including Kildare school Maynooth Post Primary and St.Fintans of Sutton.

The Westmeath school then accounted for Scoil Aodhain of Whitehall and a combination of Offaly schools to make the final.

The CBS side is managed by current footballer with Naas Ronan Joyce while Kildare GAA’S operations manager Cormac Kirwan is among his selectors.

Ronan’s younger brother Colm is the team captain and he leads well from the full forward line where himself and Luke Griffin have caused many teams trouble.

Darragh Kirwan is also a vital cog at centre forward while behind him Rian Boran and Ian Blackburne form a solid midfield partnership.

That Naas forward line has loads of firepower but unless your solid at the back its no good and luckily this team is very safe in that regard with the likes of Cathal Daly, Brian Stynes and Eoghan Prizeman in situ for the more “stylish players to do their thing.

The Naas club takes prominence on the panel but its not all about them as Kildare clubs had all but 2 of the men on the field in the semi-final win with Two Mile House, Ballymore Eustace, Eadestown, Raheens and Caragh amongst the nine clubs involved.

So all in all its an achievement that the whole of Kildare can get behind as they go in search of that elusive title.

Naas CBS route to the final

Naas CBS 1-13 Good Counsel 3-7 (Group Stage)

Naas CBS 3-8 St Marys Edenderry 1-6 (Group Stage)

Naas CBS 2-12 Knockbeg College 1-9 (Quarter Final)

Naas CBS 2-8 Colaiste Eoin 0-6 (Semi Final)

Best wishes to the Naas CBS team and management from all at Kildare GAA.