Masita All-Ireland Post Primary Schools senior football championship final

NAAS CBS 3-14 ST BRENDAN'S KILLARNEY 2-15

By Paul Keane at Croke Park

A masterclass of scoring from Kevin Cummins secured Hogan Cup glory for Naas CBS who held on in tense circumstances at Croke Park for a landmark triumph.

Beaten in the 2019 decider, the Kildare side finally came out on top but it required one heck of an effort to shrug off four-times champions St Brendan's Killarney.

Cummins struck 2-5 in total and his second goal in the 58th minute was the all important score which killed off a thrilling St Brendan's revival.

The Kerry side had recovered from seven points down late in the first-half to trail by just one late on when Cummins pounced with his second goal, leaving four between them again.

St Brendan's sub Mark O'Shea did pinch a late, late goal to leave one in it again but time simply ran out on them as Naas held on to become the first ever Kildare school to win.

This was a high quality encounter with a series of early sumptuous scores setting the tone for a memorable afternoon full of hard running and open, attractive football.

William Shine, a 2020 All-Ireland minor finalist with Kerry last July, struck back to back points that put The Sem in the ascendancy initially.

Both teams looked like scoring each time they attacked and it only took 11 minutes for the game's first goal, from Naas attacker Cummins.

He latched on to a fisted ball forward in the left channel and supplied a terrific finish over the head of the goalkeeper to the far corner off his left foot.

Shine and Cian Foley hit back with Killarney points to level it up at 0-5 to 1-2 but Naas took over then, reeling off 1-4 without reply in just six minutes to move into pole position.

Niall Dolan and Cummins got the blitz of scoring underway with points before Dara Crowley and Colm Dalton combined to play in Fionn Cooke for an excellent goal, dispatched low beneath the 'keeper from the left again.

Cummins and Gavin Thompson, with a lovely score after a stylish solo dummy, added points and suddenly Naas had opened up a seven-point gap.

Captain Cian McMahon pulled back a point for the stunned Sem who found themselves 2-6 to 0-6 down at half-time.

Kevin Cronin and his St Brendan's management team, which includes current Kerry star and former pupil Gavin Crowley, shook things up at half-time and introduced Rian Colleran and Charlie Keating.

There was a general upping of the ante from the Kingdom side and by the end of the third quarter they'd whittle down their arrears to just two points.

Shine's terrific goal two minutes after the restart got the St Brendan's charge underway. He seized on a long ball in from the right wing after it broke kindly, allowing him to spin away from his man and place a left footed shot beyond the goalkeeper.

A resurgent St Brendan's got the deficit down to just one point in the 58th minute after another fine Shine score, bringing his tally to 1-5 for the day.

But then came Cummins' second goal, a beauty after he accepted a long pass in towards the Hill 16 End and evaded Harry Byrne before sticking the ball in the top corner.

Scorers for Naas CBS: Kevin Cummins 2-5 (0-2f), Gavin Thompson 1-2 (0-1f), Niall Dolan 0-2, Sean Broderick 0-2, Fionn Cooke 0-1, Dara Crowley 0-1, Colm Dalton 0-1.

Scorers for St Brendan's Killarney: William Shine 1-5 (0-1f), Cian McMahon 0-4 (0-2f), Mark O'Shea 1-0, Cian Foley 0-3, Luke Crowley 0-3.

Naas CBS: David McPartlin; Cian Boran, Charlie Murphy, Tim Ryan; Robert Fitzgerald, Fionn Tully, Jack McKevitt; Dara Crowley, Daire Guerin; Sean Broderick, Colm Dalton, Fionn Cooke; Kevin Cummins, Niall Dolan, Gavin Thompson.

Subs: Jack Taaffe for Cooke 44, Elliot Beirne for Thompson 60, Darragh Jameson for Fitzgerald 61, Daniel Lenihan for Broderick 63.

St Brendan's Killarney: Aaron O'Sullivan; Cian Lynch, Dara O'Callaghan, Harry Byrne; John Kelleher, Tomas Clifford, Darragh Fleming; Liam Randles, Killian O'Sullivan; Mikey Moriarty, Cian Foley, Luke Crowley; Alex Hennigan, William Shine, Cian McMahon.

Subs: Rian Colleran for Clifford h/t, Charlie Keating for Hennigan h/t, Mark O'Shea for Moriarty 38, Michael Mullane for Randles 55, Aodhan O'Neill for Foley 62.

Referee: Paul Faloon (Down).