Late blitz eases Naas to victory over Summerhill

Naas (Kildare) 2-12 Summerhill (Meath) 0-08

Three-in-a-row Kildare SFC champions Naas brought all their big game experience to bear as they finished strongly on home soil to comfortably secure an AIB Leinster club semi-final spot.

Joe Murphy's side toyed with a solid Summerhill for three quarters of the contest at Kildare's training centre in Hawkfield before eventually pulling clear to win by a slightly flattering 10-point margin.

Eoghan Prizeman's 51st minute goal broke the back of Summerhill's challenge and Naas went on to hit 1-05 without response in the closing 10 minutes or so.

Veteran Eamonn Callaghan, who turns 41 this month, came on and scored two points during the late blitz while county attacker Darragh Kirwan notched his third point of the game too.

Meath teams have a poor record in this competition and this is the 20th defeat out of 33 games since Dunshaughlin won the Leinster title in 2002.

Summerhill hung tough to beat Tullamore with a late scoring siege in Round 1 and it appeared they might pull off a similar smash and grab raid this time as they whittled down a five-point half-time deficit to just two after 49 minutes, 1-07 to 0-08.

Conor Gillespie's side got some joy from pressing up on the Naas kick-out with free-taker Eoghan Frayne, part of Meath's Tailteann Cup winning panel, shooting 0-06 on the day for them.

Former county midfielder Adam Flanagan impressed at midfield too but just when it appeared that Summerhill might steal a result they were suckered by a Kirwan point and then that Prizeman goal.

In the end, Summer's 49th minute point from Barry Dardis proved to be their final score of the game as Naas took over.

The 2021 Leinster finalists will take on St Loman's of Mullingar in the provincial