The Naas CBS team that will contest the 2022 Masita Hogan Cup Final.
By John Harrington
The last time the Hogan Cup Final was played in 2019, Naas CBS lost by a single point to St. Michael’s Enniskillen.
The competition came a cropper due to Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021, and Kildare school are back with a completely different crop of players for Thursday’s 2022 Final against St. Brendan’s College, Killarney, which is a testament to how well they’re now nurturing Gaelic Football in the School.
It’s a considerable achievement, but one that manager Padraic Cribben believes the 1,100 pupil all-boys school should be eminently capable of rather than patting themselves on the back about.
He sees huge potential in Kildare football, and hopes that Naas CBS can be a driving force for high achievement at all levels in the game.
“We've had those numbers for a while, and we should be playing 'A' Football,” says Cribben. “It's just showing now that in the last four years we've been in four Leinster Finals and previous to that no Kildare team had been in a Leinster Final in over 100 years.
“It's great for the school and the lads, but it's important that it impacts Kildare football. Already from the team that reached the last All-Ireland Final you've Alex Beirne, Paddy McDermott and Darragh Kirwan already in with the senior team.
“These lads coming through the school need to go on and impact Kildare football. There's plenty of talented players in the county and they need to be trying to get up to the level of Dublin and really challenging Dublin.
“It was great to see them win that League match recently, but we should be doing that in the Championship. The journey for these lads as far as the school is concerned comes to an end next Thursday.
“But no matter what the result these lads can't let their football careers be defined by what happens out there. They have to go on and play for Kildare and try to push Kildare football on.”
Naas qualified for their second consecutive Hogan Cup Final in some style by hammering the most successful school in the history of the competition, St Jarlath’s, Tuam, by 16 points in the All-Ireland semi-final.
In attendance at the Masita GAA All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Championships captain's call at Croke Park in Dublin were St Brendan's College Killarney, Kerry, captain Cian McMahon, centre, and Naas CBS, Kildare, joint captains Jack McKevitt, left, and Fionn Tully. The Masita GAA All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Croke Cup and the Masita GAA All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Hogan Cup will be played in Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day, 17th March 2022.
As they set about creating their own football tradition in the school, Naas are showing they’re in no way overawed by the bluebloods of the game.
“When you're talking to people beforehand and you're playing St. Jarlath's, people are saying they'll be hard beat, without even knowing what the young crop of lads are like,” says Cribben.
“We're on our own journey in the school, we're trying to change that and we're trying to get to the top table and I think we've one foot underneath it.
“The beauty of this is seeing lads in first year and second year now wanting to go on and be on that senior football team some day. At the start of the year when we got names in the school of who wanted to play senior football, we had 80 lads try out for it. Cutting that down to a panel of 35 was not easy.
“That sort of enthusiasm is brilliant and hopefully Kildare football is going to benefit from it as well.”
Naas now face another renowned football nursery in St. Brendan’s, Killarney, better known as ‘The Sem’, in Thursday’s All-Ireland Final at Croke Park.
Cribben knows the Kerry school will be formidable foes, but he sources a lot of confidence from the character his own players have shown since the start of the year.
“You can have good lads but if they don't commit to it and don't buy into it you're at nothing, but these lads are top quality lads,” he says.
“We're in the gym two mornings a week at half seven and we're training out on the pitch twice a week. It's nearly full time the way it's gone with school's football.
“It's great to have the Final in Croke Park, but there's no point getting here and losing. That's the mindset we have with these young lads. It is great to be here but we still have a job to do and we know the job that we've to do.
“Any Kerry team in an All-Ireland Final are going to be very good. But our group of players are just so level headed and they've been like that all year.
“When we had a team meeting at the start of the year about what we wanted to achieve there was never one thing mentioned about a trophy. Not a Leinster trophy or All-Ireland trophy. The main message was that it was one game at a time and they've done that and come through them all.
“I know it's a cliche to say they're a good group of lads, but the one thing I would say about this team is that there's not one ego or stand-out player. We just have good players across the board.
“They know the job that's at hand and they know what they have to bring. We played very well against St. Jarlath's, we started very well, and the lads know that. But it was said afterwards by the players themselves that if we bring what we brought against St. Jarlath's it won't be enough to beat Killarney. We have to up it again.
“We just want to be the best that we can be in this Final."
Thursday, March 17
Masita GAA Post Primary Schools Hogan Cup (SF 'A') Final
Naas CBS v St. Brendan's, Killarney, Croke Park, 2pm (TG4)
