Joe Mallon SFC semi-finals, St Conleth's Park at 3.15pm and 5pm
Naas v St Laurence’s
There is some very recent form to go on here when previewing this game, but there is plenty more at play in what is possibly the hardest quarter-final clash of all four to call.
Naas ultimately stuttered through the group stages of the championship, just about holding off Castledermot in their opening game before overcoming a dismal start against Maynooth and getting a win there. They looked all set to go through as group winners when they came up against St Laurence’s in the final game, but Larries produced a superb second half display to dish out an seven-point defeat to the County Town side.
It was a relative slugfest in the first half of that encounter as St Laurence’s looked completely dependant on Padraig Fogarty for scores as they went into the break trailing by 0-5 to 0-3. The question of where else could scores come from for Larries was raising its head again, but Adam Steed soon provided an emphatic answer by plundering a second half hattrick for the victors.
St Laurence’s steamed forward on the counter-attack that day and really punished a Naas side that was too open at the back on occasion. Most of those counter-attacks stemmed from slow build up play at the other end which ultimately resulted in a swarm of St Laurence’s defenders overturning an opponent who was caught in the trap of going into the tackle.
The St Laurence’s defence has been very impressive thus far, and at times they have looked pretty good going forward when playing a quick running game.
Naas managed to get back on track two weeks’ ago with a facile win over local rivals Raheens, and that victory ought to have given Declan McCabe’s side some confidence. Eamonn Callaghan looked superb in that game as he clocked up 3-4, but their defence leaked three goals once again.
This is a very tough game to call, but if Naas can tighten things up at the back and learn from their mistakes of a few weeks ago they can come out on top here.
Verdict: Naas
Carbury v Celbridge
A meeting between two of the most consistent teams in the county will see one of them bow out earlier than hoped.
You can’t help but be impressed by the consistency in which Carbury perform. They are not gifted with a panel that could boast to be within the top five in the county, but they regularly get the best out of themselves and always put it up to the bigger teams. That is why the chastening defeat to Athy in the first group stage game was such a shock, but it can be described as merely an aberration.
Their starting 15 has remained relatively familiar over the last couple of years, but this year they have been able to introduce Sean Haslem, Jack Cully and Derek McCormack to an attack that is now looking more potent than ever. Eoghan O’Flaherty continues to shine as one of the best club footballers in the county, and his pulling of the strings from half-forward is the main threat to any opponent.
However, the Carbury defence remains slightly suspect just yet. They have conceded 3-62 over their last four games, which isn’t awful, but they certainly appeared quite open when coming up against Confey in the preliminary quarter-final two weeks’ ago.
Celbridge are quite the opposite once again this year. Their defence is one of the strongest in the county, and a miserly concession average of just over eight points per game in their three group stage outings is testament to that.
It is up front where there are question marks regarding Celbridge. Outside of David Hughes, Trevor O’Sullivan’s men haven’t got a player guaranteed to chip in with more than a couple of points a game. Liam O’Flynn has come to the fore at times this year, while Kevin O’Callaghan offers an excellent target at the edge of the square, but the north Kildare men will need someone to really step up if they are to finally make the breakthrough and land championship honours.
That said, Celbridge should have too much and will most likely edge a low-scoring affair.
Verdict: Celbridge
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