Na Fianna maintain drive for more success

At the start of the summer Na Fianna would not have been one of the teams expected to make it to the knock-out phase of the SHC yet here they are still in the hunt while more fancied sides like Dunboyne are on the left to reflect on what might-have-been. Mike Cole and his team, having already won the Leinster Hurling League Div 3 title, secured their ticket to the business end of the race with this win and by doing so they completed an impressive double for the club with the footballers also through to the last eight of the IFC. This victory was no fluke and instead was carved out by a willingness of the Na Fianna players to put in the hard graft and refuse to give up when it looked like the tide was turning Dunboyne's way. Midway through the first-half Dunboyne led by 0-8 to 0-4 and picked off scores with relative ease. By half-time that lead had been whittled down to just a point, 0-8 to 0-7. Seven minutes into the second-half the sides were level, 0-10 apiece. Again Dunboyne went ahead, this time by two points. By now a confident Na Fianna side, in unfamiliar dark blue jerseys, hauled themselves level once more before pushing on to win. They were also greatly helped by the fact that they managed to get the only goal of the game. It arrived on 53 minutes when Na Fianna's top marksman Barry Slevin sliced the ball superbly from the sideline into the square. Sean Griffin, just back after a lengthy lay-off, won possession, made space and firmly despatched the ball to the net. That put Na Fianna 1-15 to 0-13 in front and you sensed there was going to be no way back for Dunboyne after that. It wasn't surprising that Slevin was involved in such a crucial score. He led the Na Fianna charge with nine points, which included two stirring efforts from play. This time, however, it wasn't just a one-man-band for Na Fianna when it came to scoring. Diarmuid Bailey (pictured), Paul Hanley, Griffin, Shane Burke, David Kirby and Eoin Reilly all split the posts with fine efforts. Down the middle Na Fianna were strong with Brendan Flynn and Daniel Gleeson doing a lot to shore up the defence. Dunboyne were capable of notching up some excellent scores with Gary Watters, Michael Dunne, John Watters, Barry Watters and Niall Smyth topping off some good approach work by firing over from play. Dunboyne manager Paul Reilly talked afterwards about how his team had struggled to find form all summer. They laboured to find any fluency in this contest. Their cause wasn't helped by Neil Hackett breaking a finger in midweek and he was restricted to a cameo role. Dunboyne registered eight wides over the hour with Na Fianna much more economical, clocking up just three. Towards the end especially Dunboyne spurned good chances. They also won a penalty in injury-time when Michael O'Grady was fouled, but Hackett's effort was deflected over the bar. "Na Fianna showed great spirit and heart today, but we're a young team, we made a lot of changes this year and we'll build it up from here," added Reilly. Na Fianna - D Reilly; M Burke, B Flynn, P Coffey; C Cosgrave, D Gleeson, N Reilly; D Bailey (0-1), D Lyons; P Hanley (0-1), S Griffin (1-1), S Burke; B Slevin (0-9, seven frees), D Kirby (0-2), E Reilly (0-1). Subs - M Coffey for Lyons 43mins, A Burke for E Reilly 62m. Dunboyne - C Kane; S Moran, P Fagan (0-1), G Murphy; N Watters, A Watters, C O'Shea; G Watters (0-2), M O'Grady; S Moran (0-1, free), M Dunne (0-1), J Watters (0-3); M Finlay (0-1), B Watters (0-3), N Smyth (0-2). Subs - C McKay for Finlay 37mins, N Hackett (0-1) for Dunne 53m, D Buggle for B Watters 60m. Referee - Stephen Masterson (Boardsmill).