Rory O'Connor impressed for St Martin's. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
AIB Leinster Club SHC Quarter-Final
St Martin's 1-15 Naas 0-13
By Richard Commins at Cedral St Conleth's Park
A sharper, more finely tuned St Martin’s outfit overcame Naas to clinch a place in the last four after a hard-fought battle in Cedral St Conleth’s Park.
The Wexford champions always looked the likelier winners, but found it hard to shake off the six-in-a-row Kildare champions.
Despite a clear step up in class and intensity from what they encountered in the Kildare championship, Naas battled hard until a penalty two minutes from time from Jack O’Connor finally gave St Martin’s breathing space.
O’Connor won the penalty himself with a brilliant high catch and as he closed in on goal he was tripped by Naas full-back Richie Hogan. O’Connor rifled the penalty emphatically to the right of goalkeeper Cormac Gallagher.
The flawless free-taking of Jack’s brother Rory O’Connor had helped St Martin’s to a four-point half-time advantage, the corner forward contributing eight points to their 0-10 to 0-6 lead. Indeed, it wasn’t until the 20th minute that the winners managed their first point from play, a Darren Codd effort.
For Naas, with tightly marked leading scorer Jack Sheridan and the influential Simon Leacy perhaps not as prominent as they would have wished, were thankful to the lively Cian Boran in the opening period, the centre-forward contributing two points.
To their credit, Naas rallied after the interval and with Sheridan accurate from place balls they were within two points by the 42nd minute having outscored their opponents by three points to one in that period.
Although Codd swung one over from near the sideline and Rory O’Connor got back in the groove with a free, Naas hit back with points from Ferran O’Sullivan and Sheridan to leave just two between them with eight minutes remaining.
Another Rory O’Connor free, bringing his tally to eleven, stretched the lead to three, though, and the late penalty effectively killed the game as a contest.
Corner back Harry Carroll did reply with a fine point and Sheridan added another free, his eighth, but Joe Coleman had the last word with an injury time free.
Naas wing-back Kevin Whelan picked up a second yellow card in injury time and was consequently sent to the line as St Martin’s deservedly advanced to a semi-final meeting with Na Fianna.
Scorers for St Martin’s: Rory O’Connor 0-11 (11fs), Jack O’Connor 1-0 (pen), Darren Codd 0-2, Jack Devereux 0-1, Joe Coleman 0-1 (f).
Scorers for Naas: Jack Sheridan 0-8 (8fs), Cian Boran 0-2, Simon Leacy 0-1, Ferran O’Sullivan 0-1, Harry Carroll 0-1.
St Martin’s: Dylan Byrne; Eoin O’Leary, Paddy O’Connor, Philip Dempsey; Daithí Waters, Conor Firman, Joe Barrett; David Codd, Joe O’Connor; Barry O’Connor, Jack O’Connor, Darren Codd; Jack Devereux, Kyle Firman, Rory O’Connor.
Subs: Luke Kavanagh for Joe O’Connor 47, Ben Stafford for Devereux 54, Joe Coleman 0-1 (f) for K Firman, Sam Audsley for P O’Connor 58, Michael Codd for Dempsey 60+1.
Naas: Cormac Gallagher; Harry Carroll, Richard Hogan, Peter O’Donoghue; Rian Boran, Ross Kelly, Kevin Whelan; Daire Guerin, James Burke; Cathal Dowling, Cian Boran, Simon Leacy; Brian Byrne, Jack Sheridan, Ferran O’Sullivan.
Subs: Killian Harrington for O’Sullivan (temp 28), Harrington for Dowling 58.
Referee: Thomas Gleeson (Dublin)
