MATCH REPORT*

Naas started the brighter team with the midfield of Sean Thomas, Hugh McCreevey and Martin Colman getting on top early on to give them the attacking impetus they needed. Having taken control of midfield there was plenty of quality ball to create chances and the home side pushed for the opening. There were plenty of crosses from both wingers, Mark Keane and Dermot Anglin, but none could find the target man Horace Downey.

With Trevor Gyves playing well in defence the game developed into one-way traffic and Naas began to get frustrated at the lack of a goal. Left back Peter Kings began to raid down his wing. On 18 mins, a superb run by Left back Peter Kings yielded a free hit. Kings accurately found Martin Colman at the edge of the circle. Colman then turned deftly and played a one-two with Mark Keane before slotting the ball passed the keeper from 8 yards.

St. James' Gate were stung by this goal and, with Naas relaxing after the breakthrough, got back into the game with a run of short corners. They didn't look like they would score from any of these as Ciaran Downey was superb in blocking them at first runner and any shots they did get away were hurried. Then on 25 mins the away side hit a shot that was originally dealt with well by Niall Keenan only for him to attempt a suicide clearance and hand them a second chance to shoot and they duly equalised.

Naas were immediately stung into action and from the tip-off a well-worked move saw Hugh McCreevey brilliantly stopped by a last ditch tackle from the opposition's sweeper. This got them on the front foot again and just before the break they deservedly took the lead again. For the second time Peter Kings played a superb ball into the opponent’s circle, which was helped onto Dermot Anglin by Horace Downey. Anglin unselfishly played the ball across the goal to the ever alert Mark Keane who easily scored from close range.

Naas started the second half in the same vein as they had finished the first and, with the defence even less troubled than they had been in the first half, it looked a question of how many they would win by. Despite all this pressure Naas could not get the killer third goal and with the Christmas break starting to tell on their fitness they became less of a threat as the half went on. Even so it looked as if they would win by the single goal until St James' Gate were awarded a long corner after a lucky deflection on a hopeful long pass from their defence. What followed was bizarre as from the resulting hit the ball became lodged between Naas keeper Barry Kane's pads. The ball emerged from his pads and went over the goal-line without apparently being touched by an opposition player in the circle. The umpire however saw it differently and awarded a goal which squared the game.

Naas did not have the time to get the winning goal and had to settle for a point. Having been on top for so long and conceding on 2 real chances this was a bitter pill to swallow for the home side. Mark Keane was man-of-the-match for setting up one goal and scoring the other.