Bank Of Ireland Provincial Towns Cup Quarter-Final

Naas 21 - Cill Dara 22.

Match report compliments of Mark Herbert and Photos thanks to Michael Linehan

Cill Dara booked their place in the semi-finals of the Bank Of Ireland Provincial Towns Cup, after a hard fought away victory over Naas last Sunday afternoon. Behind for all the game, their never say die attitude saw them take victory in dramatic fashion in injury time.

Naas played with the benefit of the elements in the first half and were 14 points up after just 15 minutes. Within four minutes Matt Stapleton sliced through the visitors defence to score under the posts, and this was followed ten minutes later by a Muiris Cleary try, after good work by the Naas pack. Matt Stapleton converted both scores.

However Cill Dara responded and reduced the margin after 24 minutes, when following a five-yard scrum Padraig Wall crashed over from close range. The conversion was missed by Bryn Moore and the same player missed with a penalty attempt on the half hour mark, leaving the half-time score 14-5 in favour of Naas.

The visitors received a devastating blow within three minutes of the restart. They were pounding away at the Naas line, but Matt Stapleton managed to intercept a pass and ran the length of the pitch to score. He also converted to leave the home side 21-5 in front.

Cill Dara now had a mountain to climb but they were up to the task. They stormed into the attack and this constant pressure led to Naas receiving two yellow cards. The visitors made full use of their numerical advantage on 59 minutes, when after opting to move the ball wide they created an overlap for Adam Meehan to score.

Cian Buckley was successful with the conversion and he also landed a penalty on 69 minutes to make the score 21-15 to Naas and set up a grandstand finish.

Cill Dara threw everything at Naas in the closing stages in a bid for the match winner, and two minutes into injury-time it came. Their forwards kept pounding away and finally the Naas resistance was broken when Padraig Wall managed to hold off two attempted tacklers to score. Cian Buckley still had to kick the conversion to gain victory, but he stood up to the pressure and calmly slotted the kick.

The referee allowed one further play but Naas were unable to make it count, and Cill Dara were able to celebrate a famous victory on a 22-21 scoreline.

Naas: David O'Sullivan, James Farrell, Eimhin Conroy, Kaelan Burke, Colm Stapleton, Matt Stapleton, Derry Lenehan, Jim Downey, Kolo Kiripati, Stephen Lackey, Cillian Dempsey, Lorcan Murphy, Jack Rogers, Muiris Cleary, Richard Drumcoole-Maguire.

Replacements: Paul Carroll, Jack Coyle, Philip Jordan, Reuben Lyons, Ethan Travers.

Cill Dara: Cian Buckley, Adam Meehan, Senan Brannock, Thomas Cleary, Byrn Moore, Tadgh Murtagh, David Vaughan, Rob Scully, Michael Shannon, DJ Brannock, Joseph Marks, Billy O'Shea, Ross Dooley, Colin Maloney, Padraig Wall.

Replacements: Aaron Kane, Rory Mahon, Christopher Walsh, Max Byrne, Rory Conway.