Having an expressed an interest in stepping into management in recent years, Philly McMahon would finally take the plunge by linking up with Kildare champions Naas.

Naas have won the last four Kildare county titles on the spin, with it being expected that they would continue that run in 2025. They would no doubt also have provincial ambitions having gained quite a bit of experience at that level in recent times.

However, it has not been all plain sailing for the Dublin legend since arriving at the club.

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Philly McMahon Earns Unwanted Record With Kildare Club Defeat

Naas would have a strong league campaign, winning the Division One crown. They would also win the first two games of their championship campaign, although last weekend would see an impressive record come to an end.

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Not only had Naas won the last four Kildare titles, but they had also done so unbeaten. As a result, their last championship loss came all the way back in 2020.

However, that run would come to an end on Sunday as they lost convincingly to Sarsfields on a score of 0-19 to 1-7.

As a result, Philly McMahon became the first Naas manager to lose a championship match in half a decade.

That result certainly cast a shadow of doubt about Naas’ drive for five. In saying that, they would still advance to the quarter-finals as a result of their second-placed finish in the group.

These two clubs have had a number of big clashes in the last few years, the most recent of which was the Kildare league final. Naas have largely been dominant when the two sides met.

Considering that run of results, a win for Sarsfields is sure to give them plenty of belief. Speaking to Clubber after the game, their manager Vinny Walsh summed up how important it was that his side performed in this fixture.

That’s the way we looked at it. The league final was the one we wanted to win, there was a cup.

We didn’t win, but we learned from it. To me, it would have done more damage if we didn’t perform today than the result would have.

I’m happy that we got a performance and ended up with a result, but we needed to perform first today.

Either way people would say ‘look Naas didn’t worry about that one and there’s bigger games to come’. There is, but I don’t what we would have been like if we lost.

It was important for us.

While this loss has not serious hampered Naas’ championship prospects, it will give other teams some hope that their long run of dominance in Kildare could to an end in 2025.

Next up for Philly McMahon’s men will be a quarter-final meeting with Clane later this month.

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