Na Fianna Prepare For St Martins Test in Leinster Semi Final

By Conor Martin 

Image courtesy Des Pearson 

Na Fianna's provincial journey continues this Sunday, as they take on St Martin’s from Wexford in the AIB Leinster Club Senior Hurling semi-final at Parnell Park at 3pm.

After retaining the county title in dramatic style, the northsiders followed up their county final triumph with a win over Clough-Ballacolla in the quarter-final last weekend, winning 3-20 to 1-15. 

After making a slow start and falling behind after Stephen Maher found the net, the Dublin champions finally found their groove thanks to the efforts of skipper Dónal Burke and Jack Meagher. Their opponents were unable to hold off Na Fianna for long and the reliable trio of AJ Murphy, Séan Currie and Paul O’Dea tied things up.

Ciarán Stacey would find himself on the goalscorers list once again when he netted shortly before the break after managing to shrug off his marker to help the Dublin club lead by five at half-time.

Scores from Burke and Colin Currie kept Na Fianna ahead while Maher kept the Laois club within contention until Murphy grabbed the club from Mobhi Road’s second goal of the tie before Sean Ryan was fouled whilst bearing down on goal. Jonathan Tracey trotted up the field and nailed the resulting penalty to wrap up the win and a spot in the semi-final.

Niall Ó Ceallacháin’s men will probably be slightly flattered by the 11-point win and were guilty of being wasteful at times. They will look to continue their quest of a first-ever provincial title this weekend. 

St Martin’s became Wexford Senior Hurling Champions for the fifth time earlier this month with a 1-22 to 0-19 win over St Anne’s Rathangan.

They won four of their Group B games and finished second in their group to advance to the last eight. But just like Na Fianna, they would lose once on the way to the county crown when they were beaten by Shelmailers by a point in their second game.

They would enjoy comfortable wins in the quarter-final and the semi-final, overcoming Ferns St Aidan’s by nine points and Naomh Éanna by 11 points, respectively.

Barry O’Connor was the Wexford champions goalscorer as they eventually pulled away from their county counterparts, while Rory O’Connor sent the ball over the bar 11 times before Ben Maddock and Jack O’Connor made sure of a first title for St Martin’s since 2019 with points in injury-time.

In the quarter-final of the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, the Wexford club showed more fight and hunger than Naas and Rory O’Connor demonstrated his talent by racking up 11 points for himself and his club once again.

Darren Codd proved himself to be useful once again and Jack O’Connor scored a penalty to help St Martin’s into the last four.

There is a lot of promise and talent in Daithí Hayes’ squad and arguably Rory O’Connor is St Martins' main man, given he has scored 0-11 in his last two games and finished as the Wexford Senior Hurling Championship top-scorer with a hugely impressive 3-79.

Both Na Fianna and St Martin’s are still hunting for their first-ever Leinster title and given the fight and skill on show last weekend, this Sunday's clash should be a hugely entertaining watch.

Match tickets are available here.