Marist have no answer to All-Ireland champions Naas
GAA: Leinster Schools Senior Football 'A' Championship Round 2
Naas CBS 4-17 Marist College, Athlone 0-7
Reigning Leinster and All-Ireland champions Naas CBS booked their place in the knockout stages of the Leinster Schools SF 'A' championship with a comprehensive victory over Marist College, Athlone at Naas GAA headquarters yesterday (Tuesday).
These two sides met at the quarter-final stage in the 2001/2022 championship and it took two games to decide the outcome. The Marist were granted a replay due to Naas introducing more than the permitted number of substitutes in their initial 'victory', and the Kildare side won the rematch en route to winning the Bro Bosco Cup. Naas went on to defeat St Brendan's, Killarney in the Hogan Cup (All-Ireland) final.
Naas claimed an emphatic win over Scoil Aodhain of Dublin in their opening game (4-20 to 0-2) of the current campaign. Marist must now defeat Scoil Aodhain in their second outing in order to make the knockout stages.
Star of the show for Naas against Marist was Carl Lennox, who hit an impressive 3-5, while Ryan Sinkey hit six points for the holders. And while Naas were by far the strongest on the day, the final scoreline is somewhat harsh on the Athlone side who conceded 4-3 in the final 13 minutes or so.
Playing against the stiffish breeze, the home side opened with a fine point through the influential Ryan Sinkey, before further scores from Carl Lennox and Sinkey.
Athlone opened their account on nine minutes from their best player on the day, full-forward Bobby Nugent of St Brigid's. Nugent finished with five points to his name with the Marist's other scores coming from Ben Donegan (Garrycastle) and Johnny Martin (Athlone).
Naas dominated most of that opening half with some fine individual displays and fine score-taking. By half-time the home side had opened a six point lead, 0-9 to 0-3, and with the breeze on their backs for the second half, it looked ominous for Athlone side.
To their credit, the visitors did better in the opening third quarter and while they still trailed 0-11 to 0-5 they were certainly more in the game.
Two more points from Kill's Lennox pushed out the lead and while Luke O'Connell replied for the Westmeath side, Naas turned up the heat big-time from here to the end. Lennox hit three goals between the 48 and 61 minutes (two of those came inside two minutes of each other). The other Naas goal came from Stephen Kelly.
Marist tried hard to the end but had no answer for Naas, who put down a firm marker that they are the team to beat once again in the Leinster Schools SF 'A championship.
SCORERS - Naas CBS: Carl Lennox 3-5 (2 frees, mark), Ryan Sinkey 0-6 (1 free), Stephen Kelly 1-0, Fionn McCarthy 0-2, Austin Brennan 0-1, Evan O'Brien 0-1, Fionn Ryan and Callum Barrett (penalty) 0-1. Marist College: Bobby Nugent 0-5 (4 frees), Ben Donegan and Johnny Martin 0-1 each.
NAAS CBS: Fintan Quinn; Niall Cramer, Charlie Murphy, Evan O'Brien; Daniel Hamill, Eoin Lawlor, Finn Ryan; Austin Brennan, Cian O'Reilly; Fionn McCarthy, Carl Lennox, Daire Gilmartin; Stephen Kelly, Callum Barrett, Ryan Sinkey. Subs used: Tom Kelly for E O'Brien; Damian McGuirk for F Ryan; Des Horan for R Sinkey; Liam O'Reilly for C Murphy.
MARIST COLLEGE, ATHLONE: Luke Nicholson; Jack Mulvihill, Michael Henry, Owen McNamara; Piaras Rohan, Tadhg Baker, Killian Redmond; Luke O'Connell, Ben Donegan; Daire O'Connor, Andrew Stuart Trainor, Daniel Reid; Oisin Shortall, Bobby Nugent, Kealan Connell. Subs used: Johnny Martin for D Reid; Shane Harrington for K Connell; Kailin Blessing for L Nicholson.
REFEREE: Maurice Deegan (Laois).