In a very entertaining game Naas had seven points to spare over Towers at the final whistle. Naas led 1 – 11 to 0 – 8 at the interval due mainly to a personal tally of 1 – 4 by corner forward Ronan Joyce. An early David Gahan point followed by a goal from a penalty from the same player put Naas ten points clear 2 – 12 to 0 – 8 after seven minutes in the second half. Towers staged a fight back with two Evan Flynn points and a goal and a point by Mark Byrne to reduce the arrears to five points after twenty minutes. However Naas finished the stronger scoring three points to one for Towers.
Towers opened the scoring with two early Jason O’Brien points and a Mark Scanlon point. Naas equalised with a Ronan Joyce goal. Naas took control and scored eight unanswered points, Ronan Joyce (4), Ross Bergin (2), Ailin McDermott and Joey Cocoman (1 each), in fifteen minutes to lead 1 – 8 to 0 – 3 . Towers fought back with points from Mark Scanlon(2), D.J. Flynn and Mark Byrne to reduce the lead to four points after 26 minutes. In the last few minutes of the half Naas outscored Towers by three points to one to lead by six at the interval 1 – 11 to 0 – 8.
Naas struck early in the second half with a David Gahan point and a converted penalty by the same player to put Naas ten points clear after seven minutes of the second half. Towers fought back again with 1 – 1 from Mark Byrne and three points from Evan Flynn but Naas held on to win comfortably.
Naas: Barry Reynolds, Eoghan Bateman, Michael McDonald, John Hill(0 – 1), Paul Sullivan, Shane Bergin, Fiachra Piggott, Brian Kane, David Gahan(1 – 1), Ailin McDermott(0 – 1), Conor Ferguson((0 – 1), Joey Cocoman(0 – 2), John Joyce(0 – 1), Ross Bergin(0 – 4), Ronan Joyce(1 – 4) Subs: Shane Gibbons (0 – 1), Brian Byrne, Kevin Curtis.
Towers: James Robinson, Stephen O’Brien, Michael Kelly, Eoin Leavy, Jamie Flynn, Padraig Golden, Paul Corrish, Mark Scanlon(0 – 3), Niall Fleming, Adam O’Brien, Mark Byrne (1 – 2), D.J. Flynn(0 – 1), Conor Hyland, Jason O’Brien(0 – 2), Evan Flynn (0 – 4).
