Na Gaeil turn on class to beat battling St Pats ahead of Munster final

ST BRENDAN’S DISTRICT BOARD SFC FINAL Na Gaeil 3-13 St Pats 0-6

SILVERWARE, and another step along the road for Na Gaeil, who will be hoping for further success this weekend when they contest the Munster Junior Championship final in Mallow.

Coming into the game it was debatable, in the middle of their provincial campaign, whether this final would be a distraction or of some benefit, given that any injuries picked up might have impacted on their ambitions for the remainder of the season.

As events transpired they recorded, as was generally expected, a pretty comfortable victory in the end, even if the level of their performance was, at times, somewhat indifferent and inconsistent.

A final flourish that yielded two goals in the latter stages of the contest didn’t exactly do full justice to St Pats best efforts, but despite a performance that was at times somewhat disjointed, Na Gaeil having built up an early lead never looked as if they might lose this particular contest.

The lack of an adequate preparation by St Pats was always going to be a factor in terms of the end result, doubly so, considering that Na Gaeil are at the moment gearing their training schedule towards peaking in their efforts to claim the Munster crown.

They set about the task with a lot of urgency from the outset, fielding the bulk of their regular starting fifteen, and, were two points in front after just five minutes of play. They consolidated their situation four minutes later when Diarmuid Herlihy was on hand to apply a routine finish after a mistimed fisted effort in relation to a lofted delivery into the St Pats goal area fell invitingly in front of the attacker, and the ace opportunist completed a trademark finish low to the St Pats’ net.

Points from Dara Devine with a free, and, Diarmuid O’Connor at the end of a surging run strengthened their grip on proceedings even further, being in front by 1-4 to 0-1 at the end of the opening quarter.

St Pats were largely reduced to sporadic attacks, and, despite some enterprising approach play from the impressive Fergal O’Brien, they were unable to transfer the chances which they created on to the scoreboard, being guilty on occasion of some poor shot selection, especially, from distance.

Defensively they offered a lot in terms of their determined approach, effecting a few good blocks and interceptions, but Na Gaeil were more resourceful in terms of creating and converting scores.

They led 1-6 0-2 coming up to the end of the first half, and, in the twenty seventh minute Fergal O’Brien used his pace to telling effect, to manoeuvre himself into a goal scoring area, and, after his initial effort came back off the crossbar, his second attempt went wide when a goal looked to be almost inevitable.

Certainly a gilt edged goal-scoring opportunity which could have been significant and, while Na Gaeil led 1-7 to 0-2 at half-time, that scoreline could well have had a different look to it if St Pats hadn’t gifted them their goal, and had delivered with that opportunity at the other end.

Four yellow cards were shown as the first half drew to a close, and, the exchanges at times continued to have a little bit of an edge attached to them with the quality of proceedings lapsing considerably throughout all of the third quarter.

Na Gaeil added just a single point from a pointed free to their tally throughout all of that period with misplaced passes along with a lack of composure and conviction in front of goal being very much a feature at both ends of the pitch.

Eight points in front, 1-9 to 0-4, in the early stages of the final quarter, Na Gaeil continued to hold sway in most sectors, even if St Pats maintained their momentum until the final whistle. However, a tendency to over elaborate in tight situations, with the wrong option being taken cost them, with Na Gaeil seizing on an intercept to score another goal, dispatched to the roof of the net fairly emphatically by Diarmuid O’Connor after Jack Barry had effected the initial turnover, and ran unopposed in on goal with six minutes of normal time remaining.

Na Gaeil had by this stage introduced a number of players off the bench and one of those replacements, Jamie Lowham, applied the final seal on the victory with his side’s third goal in the 59th minute.

It wrapped up a final result, which was generally predicted, even if the final winning margin flattered Na Gaeil somewhat. But then, it was all about keeping their winning run intact, and, while their performance wasn’t perfect, the result was really the only thing which mattered at the end of the day.

NA GAEIL: Timmy Culloty, Ryan O’Neill, Kieran Dineen, Damian Bourke, Fergal Barry (0-1), Andrew Barry, Eoin Doody, Jack Barry, Diarmuid O’Connor (1-1), Eoin Walsh, Kieran O’Donovan (0-1), Dan Goggin (0-1), Diarmuid Herlihy (1-1), James O’Connor (01), Dara Devine (0-6 0-4 frees) Subs: Jamie Lowham (1-0) for D Herlihy, Darragh Reen (0-1), for E Walsh, Jordan Murphy for K Dineen, Dara Sheehy for J O’Connor

ST PAT’S: Paidi Bailey, Tommy O’Connor, Kieran O’Dwyer, Euan Feeney, Liam Poff, Luke Mulligan (0-1), Kevin O’Shea, Brendan Poff, Paul Mc Mahon (0-1), David O’Callagan, Brian Murphy, Jordan Conway, Eoin Greaney (0-1 free), Liam O’Sullivan, Fergal O’Brien (0-2) Subs: Tommy Lynch for T O’Connor, Gary Savage (0-1) for L O’Sullivan, Ian Mc Carthy for B Murphy, Martin Savage for L Poff

REFEREE: Paul Hayes (Kerins O’Rahillys)