Club GAA: Kilmacud Crokes edge past Portarlington, Naas survive extra-time thriller against Shelmaliers
A round-up of Saturday's action in the Club Football Championship. Kilmacud Crokes and Naas came through their respective Leinster semi-finals at Croke Park, while in Ulster, Derrygonnelly Harps defeated Clann Éireann.
Sunday 19 December 2021 11:09, UK
Kilmacud Crokes and Naas will meet in the Leinster SFC decider.
Kilmacud Crokes (Dublin) 1-11 Portarlington (Laois) 0-12
Kilmacud Crokes are back in the Leinster final, as they look to atone for their shock 2018 defeat to Mullinalaghta.
The Stillorgan giants were forced to dig deep against Portarlington, who led by four at half-time. But the Dublin champions staged a second-half comeback to deliver a deserved victory.
Crokes went 29 minutes without a score in the first half, as the Laois representatives built a 0-7 to 0-3 lead at the break.
However, Cian O'Connor found the net for Kilmacud at the start of the final quarter, to give them a 1-7 to 0-9 lead.
Portarlington did retake the lead, but a brace of points from Paul Mannion helped to turn the tide once more to secure the two-point victory.
Naas (Kildare) 2-15 Shelmaliers (Wexford) 1-13
Naas are through to their first ever Leinster final, after an extra-time win against Shelmaliers of Wexford.
The manager-less Kildare outfit had veteran forward Eamon Callaghan to thank for rescuing a draw in normal time. Shelmaliers led for the majority of the contest, with an early Eoghan Nolan goal undoing a strong start from Naas.
However, Naas reeled in their opponents with a goal from county star Darragh Kirwan, and Callaghan kicked a free deep into injury-time to bring the contest to extra-time.
From there, the Kildare representatives rode their momentum, and a late Dermot Hanafin goal put the contest beyond doubt.
Derrygonnelly Harps (Fermanagh) 3-11 Clann Éireann (Armagh) 1-11
Derrygonnelly are through to their first ever Ulster final, after a 3-11 to 1-11 victory over Clann Éireann of Armagh.
The Fermanagh outfit did all the damage in the first quarter, as they took a 3-2 to 0-0 lead in the early stages.
Shane McGullion (2) and Conall Jones provided the goals for Derrygonnelly.
Although Clann Éireann did muster a comeback with Conor McConville finding the net, they were left with too much to do.
Derrygonnelly await the winners of Glen vs Kilcoo in the Ulster decider.
