Naas set sights on Dublin champions after back-to-back success

These truly are the glory days around Naas.

The double-double secured, the club’s footballers claiming two consecutive Kildare senior championships for the first time since the 1930s and the hurlers now four-in-a-row kings of the county, unchartered waters.

“These are special times,” admits Darragh Kirwan, who was a key cog in the success of the footballers.

“They really are, they don’t come around too often, and there’s no guarantee they’ll come around again. We really have to make the most of the lads we have. Our minors were in the final and were unlucky but that’s only a stepping stone for them. We’re coming through really good times and it’s about making the most of them.”

Brian Byrne and James Burke are the dual players that lined out for Naas in both the senior hurling and football finals this year.

With solid foundations at underage level supporting the club across the codes, the possibility of Naas building an era of unprecedented dominance is a distinct possibility.

[ Kildare SFC final: Naas untroubled from start to finish of title defence ]

“People want to put their hands up and volunteer and that’s what you need with the kind of numbers we have, it’s just about people who keep going at it and making the most of it,” adds Kirwan.

Making the most of it, indeed. For the footballers, that means now trying to conquer Leinster for the first time. Tom Brady is among the sports stars who has talked about the bitter taste of defeat outlasting the sweet smell of success.

He might be the most decorated quarterback in the NFL, but Brady stated, “I probably don’t remember all the wins, but I definitely remember all the losses. I think they all stick with you because you’re competitive and you want to go out there and play your best every week.”

For Naas, the defeat that hurt to the core was the Leinster club football final loss to Kilmacud Crokes at Croke Park last January. So close to history, but never fully grasping the moment. It was the Kildare side’s first appearance in the provincial club football decider, but they didn’t show up, didn’t do themselves justice, left the capital with a seven-point defeat and bellyful of regrets.

“I suppose we rode the crest of a wave in Leinster last year, but it was gut-wrenching that day up in Croke Park. It was a dreary enough time of Covid as well and that stuck with us,” recalls Kirwan.

“I suppose if you could bottle that and use it in the club championship this year, our eyes will be firmly on that and hopefully we can come out on top.”

Crokes ran out 0-14 to 0-7 winners in that game, a match Kirwan missed because of a calf injury. And who is up first for the Kildare champions in this year’s provincial club championship only the winners of next Sunday’s Dublin senior football final between Kilmacud Crokes and Na Fianna.

Naas will meet the eventual Dublin champions on the weekend of November 5th/6th, so there is a chance that a repeat of the Leinster club final could be on the cards at the quarter-final stages in this campaign.

“They’re the type of games you get really up for. They were seven or eight points better than us last year so we’ll be going in as severe underdogs against whoever wins but what better position to be in and hopefully we can go better than we did last year,” says Kirwan.

Much of the talk before the Leinster final in January was about how great a loss the injured Paul Mannion would be to Crokes, but Kirwan was just as big an absence for Naas.

There was a novelty factor around last year’s county title success too, as it was their first since 2000, so the provincial campaign was looked upon as something of a free hit. However, during that journey through Leinster last year Naas realised they were closer to provincial glory than maybe even they imagined. Now, having retained the Kildare title, there is a feeling around the town that Naas belong in the race for Leinster.

“It’s just that bit of character building, there’s some special momentum about winning a club championship,” says Kirwan.

“It brings everyone together initially and we’ve done that again so it can only bring us closer. Hopefully we can galvanise ourselves and go one better.”

And the Kildare player believes Naas have already demonstrated their growth and development as a team by how they managed last Sunday’s final victory over Clane.

“The two teams were very evenly matched in terms of technical ability. In terms of that youth and exuberance, it was probably the experience from last year, that bit of know-how, that bit of character we’ve shown this year in coming through real battles that probably came to fruition in the end.”