Naomh Bríd deservedly lift Intermediate title
Colin Byrne is congratulated by Kate Nolan after Naomh Bríd's win
Naomh Bríd are the Carlow intermediate champions. On Saturday at Netwatch Cullen Park they put in a performance which suggests they are ready to join the senior ranks in 2026.
The eventual winners dominated the first half but enjoyed a moment of good fortune in the opening jousts when Aaron Amond’s attempt for a point came back off the right-hand upright at the scoreboard end of the ground. The sliotar fell nicely for Ruarc O’Neill and he held his head to find the net as the Rangers defence tried to close him down.
Jack Foley and Jamie Nolan (free) raised white flags for Rangers but their rivals opened them up with another goal on six minutes when Colin Byrne took the scoring pass from John Murphy.
The latter was having a huge influence on proceedings with Mark Fitzgerald in particular feeding off the space which his colleague was creating. The left-half forward scored four points from play and at the interval, Naomh Bríd were good value for their 2-10 to 0-7 lead.
All they needed to do was to avoid any major accidents. This they all but did with the exception of a soft 31st minute goal from a long range Paul Coady free which crossed the line off the fingers of net-minder, Alan Brennan.
After that it was plain sailing. Rangers did get within five at one stage but John Murphy, Aaron Amond, Mark Fitzgerald and Mikey Bambrick all added to their first half total to see them complete a wonderful Shield and Intermediate double.
For Rangers, Paul Coady was their best player but they or were not let fire on the day.
The win rounded off a famous day for the club as earlier in the afternoon at Netwatch Cullen Park, their second team took the Junior Hurling Shield as they beat Burren Rangers by 3-7 to 1-7
Mark Fitzgerald 0-5, C Byrne 1-2, A Amond 0-4 (2fs), J Murphy, M Bambrick (1f) 0-3 each, R O’Neill 1-0.
P Coady 1-6 (1-4fs), J Nolan (1f), J Dalton 0-2 each, J Foley, J Cummins 0-1 each.
Alan Brennan; Shane Kirwan, Adam Dunne, Ros Dermody; Tadhg O’Neill, Fiach O’Toole, Gary Dunne; Mikey Bambrick, Eanna Holland; Ruarc O’Neill, John Murphy, Mark Fitzgerald; Jamie Doyle, Colin Byrne, Aaron Amond. Subs: Conor DeLacey for R O’Neill (38), Jack Connolly for Doyle (53), Gavin Slattery for Byrne (55), Niall Roche for Holland (57), Daniel Roche for T O’Neill (63).
Gary Kelly; Gavin Murphy, Jack Ryan, Daniel Ryan; Declan Brennan, Robert Stafford, Jack Foley; Tadgh Doran, Jack Griffith; Kyle Nolan, Paul Coady, Joey Dalton; Luke Kavanagh, Jamie Nolan, Jack Cummins. Subs: Eddie Coady for D Brennan (h/t), David Phelan for Cummins (42), Eoin Coleman for K Nolan (50), Ciaran Joyce for Kavanagh (55), John Coady for Dalton (57).
Sean McCormack (Carlow Town Hurling Club)
