Celbridge deny Naas to claim Kildare hurling title

Celbridge 0-17 Naas 1-8

Celbridge turned in a dominant display in Newbridge on Sunday afternoon as they overcame a Naas side who ended the game with only one scorer.

Man-of-the-match Gerry Keegan led the way in the first half and ended the first 30 minutes with five points as Celbridge led 0-10 to 0-3 at the break.

Jack Sheridan was the one Naas player who performed to the sort of levels he had shown on their journey to the final and he scored five of the first seven points after the restart to cut the gap back to four.

Celbridge soon regained control though and landed inspirational scores from play by Keegan and the two White brothers, Billy and Sam.

Sheridan pulled a late goal back for Naas from an injury time 20 metre free but a disappointing day for them was completed when Kieran Maher was sent off in injury time.

CELBRIDGE: N Lanigan; T Finnerty, F O'Muineacháin, P Curtin (0-1); K Murphy, N O'Muineacháin, D Moloney; F Conway, B White (0-2); R Byrne, G Keegan (0-10 six frees, one 65), L Quinn (0-1); S White (0-1), T Fitzgerald (0-1), M Moloney. Subs: B Lyng for Byrne (44 mins), P Moloney for S White (60 mins).

NAAS: C Gallagher; D McDonncha, R Bergin, D McSweeney; S Walsh, S Gainey, P Sullivan; E O'Hehir, J O'Malley; K Maher, R Ryan, P Cocoman, J Sheridan (1-8, 1-7 frees), M Purcell, B Byrne. Subs: J Whelan for O'Malley (29 mins), O Loughran for O'Hehir (41 mins), R Kelly for Cocoman (51 mins), C Gormley for Gainey ( 60 mins).

Referee: R Kelly.