Naas 0-14

Sarsfields 0-12

Ger McNally reports from Newbridge

NAAS WITHSTOOD HUGE late pressure from Sarsfields to lift the Kildare SFC title for the first time since 1990 at St Conleths Park today.

Congrats again to Eamonn and Naas. pic.twitter.com/41ICbXKBWn

— Kildare GAA (@KildareGAA) November 7, 2021

The eventual winners made a dream start to the game when they led by 0-8 to 0-1 after 22 minutes but after such a slow start, favourites Sarsfields finally found their feet.

They scored five points in-a-row either side of half time to cut the Naas lead back to two but a Paddy McDermott point in the 38th minute kick started a good third quarter for his team.

They led 0-12 to 0-7 at the water break and then 0-13 to 0-8 when it appeared the tide began to turn against them. Key defender Eoin Doyle went off injured and then Sean Cullen was shown a black in the 50th minute.

31 years no more. Well done lads 💙💙💙💙 pic.twitter.com/c0B7HJmlwo

— Naas GAA SF (@NaasGAA_SF) November 7, 2021

Two points from Tadhg Hoey left three in with five minutes to go. After a Darragh Ryan point, Sarsfields had the ball in the net but their effort was ruled out after the referee brought back play for an earlier foul. Barry Coffey converted to leave just a point between the side but despite the Sarsfields pressure in the three minutes of injury time it was Naas who sealed the win with a Paul McDermott point.

Scorers for Naas: D Kirwan 0-4, E Callaghan 0-2 (1f), S Cullen 0-2, D Hanafin 0-1, B Kane 0-1, T Browne 0-1, A Beirne 0-1, Paddy McDermott 0-1 Paul McDermott 0-1.

Scorers for Sarsfields: B McCormack 0-3 (1’45), T Hoey 0-3 (0-1 mark), D Ryan 0-3, B Coffey 0-2 (0-1 mark, free), K Hartley 0-1.

Naas

1. Jack Rodgers

2. Brian Kane, 3. Paul Sullivan, 4. Conor McCarthy

5. Tom Browne, 6. Brian Byrne, 7. Paddy McDermott

8. Eoin Doyle, 9. Jack Cleary

10. Dermot Hanafin, 11. Eamonn Callaghan, 12. Alex Beirne

13. Darragh Kirwan, 14. James Burke, 15. Sean Cullen.

Subs: Colm Joyce for Hanafin, 47; Cathal Daly for Doyle, 48; Paul McDermott for Kane, 54; Brian Stynes for Beirne, 60+3.

Sarsfields

1. John Melia

2. Tom Aspell, 3. Shea Ryan, 4. Colm Hartnett

5. Darragh Ryan, 6. Con Kavanagh, 7. Ciaran Aspell

8. Ben McCormack, 9. Tadhg Hoey

10. Cian Costigan, 11. Barry Coffety, 12. Conor Hartley

13. Dan Nea, 14. Shane Doyle, 15. Alan Smith

Subs: David Shalvey for Alan Smith, h/t: Karl Hartley for Costigan, 36; Cian Byrne for Ciaran McInerney-Aspell, 38; Gary White for C Hartley, 43; Sean Campbell for Hartnett, 45.

Referee: Billy O’Connell.