Kildare 0-20
Offaly 0-16
AT LEAST ONE Kerryman was left smiling this evening as Kildare booked a place in the Leinster SFC semi-finals after overcoming a spirited Offaly challenge in Portlaoise.
14 months after his appointment as Lilywhites boss, Jack O’Connor finally enjoyed his first championship victory. He’ll be well aware improvements will be required for next weekend’s tie against Meath, who dished out a 28 point beat down to Wicklow earlier today.
Kildare either sent wide or dropped short 20 shots at the posts and heavily relied on young full-forward Darragh Kirwan on his championship debut. The Naas ace finished with six points, five from play, and led the line on a night where Daniel Flynn and Jimmy Hyland were restricted to 0-3 between them.
Offaly were four behind by the second-half water break but kicked four scores to bring themselves back to within one as the game entered the final five minutes.
Neil Flynn, who only buried his father Fergal yesterday, arrived into the pressure cooker to clip over three deadballs that helped Kildare over the line. It was a huge impact by the Maynooth forward in testing circumstances.
John Maughan’s second season over Offaly ended in a quarter-final defeat, but they have made major improvements under the Mayo native. They played a good brand of football and pushed Kildare all the way. It’s just a pity the Faithful don’t have a qualifier campaign to build on this performance.
O’Connor named a youthful starting team all aged 28 or under, which included five debutants. They were strong favourites coming into the game but were cut open at times by a talented Faithful attack.
Cian Farrell led the line with a seven-point haul but Offaly left three goal chances behind them and they needed a green flag to really put themselves in the driving seat.
The first-half was a good open affair with plenty of kickpassing. Kildare in particular looked to hit their inside line with long deliveries, no surprise given they have a Kerry man in charge.
Only for eight wides the Lilywhites would have led by more than a single point at the interval. Debutant Kirwan found the range after 16 seconds and it was a sign of things to come. He was Kildare’s best forward and had 0-4 on the board by the half, finishing with 0-6.
Farrell, on his first championship start clipped over five points in the first-half and almost added a goal in the 20th minute after he was put through by a great Anton Sullivan ball. Farrell’s shot was stopped on the line by David Hyland after Donnellan was beaten.
Kildare were punished for fouling as Niall McNamee and Farrell were happy to slot over close-range frees.
O’Connor pushed Ben McCormack into full-forward at the start of the second-half which released Daniel Flynn outfield, but the former AFL man was replaced after 41 minutes. Flynn had been struggling with injury in the lead-up to the game and didn’t look at his best in Portlaoise.
The second period began at a frantic pace with a flurry of scores for both teams as Kildare moved 0-13 to 0-11 ahead. Bernard Allen forced an excellent save from Mark Donnellan after he left three defenders in his wake.
A goal at that stage would have breathed life into the Offaly challenge, but they went into the water break four behind following scores from Aaron Masterson, McCormack and a Hyland free.
Joey O’Connor pulled one back and then Ruairi McNamee curled over a lovely effort from a tight angle. Kirwan responded for Kildare but Offaly had the momentum. Farrell stroked over a 45 and keeper Paddy Dunican added a free to reduce the gap to the minimum.
Then Neil Flynn made his mark and Paul Cribbin added an insurance score to seal their progression.
16 years after Maughan and O’Connor met on the sideline in the All-Ireland final as Mayo clashed with Kerry, the Kingdom native once again prevailed here.
Scorers for Kildare: Darragh Kirwan 0-6 (0-1m), Paddy Brophy and Neil Flynn (0-2f, 0-1m) 0-3 each, Jimmy Hyland (0-1f) 0-2, Aaron Masterson, Fergal Conway, Ben McCormack, Darragh Malone, Paul Cribbin and Daniel Flynn 0-1 each.
Scorers for Offaly: Cian Farrell 0-7 (0-2f, 0-2 45), Niall McNamee (0-3f) 0-3, Ruairi McNamee 0-2, Joseph O’Connor, Bernard Allen, Anton Sullivan and Paddy Dunican (0-1f) 0-1 each.
Kildare
1. Mark Donnellan (Maynooth)
2. Mark Dempsey (Moorefield)
6. Con Kavanagh (Sarsfields)
3. Shea Ryan (Sarsfields)
4. Darragh Malone (Allenwood)
7. Kevin Flynn (Celbridge)
5. David Hyland (Athy)
8. Kevin Feely (Athy)
9. Aaron Masterson (Moorefield)
12. Fergal Conway (Celbridge)
11. Ben McCormack (Sarsfields)
20. Paddy Brophy (Celbridge)
15. Jimmy Hyland (Ballyteague)
13. Daniel Flynn (Johnstownbridge)
14. Darragh Kirwan (Naas)
Subs
10. Mattie Byrne (Sarsfields) for Conway (ht)
19. Paul Cribbin (Johnstownbridge) for Daniel Flynn (42)
21. Neil Flynn (Maynooth) for McCormack (55)
18. Luke Flynn (Johnstownbridge) for Masterson (60)
25. Eoin Doyle (Naas) for Kevin Flynn (68)
Offaly
1. Paddy Dunican (Shamrocks)
2. Declan Hogan (Tullamore)
3. Eoin Rigney (Rhode)
4. Niall Darby (Rhode)
5. Eoin Carroll (Cappincur)
6. Johnny Moloney (Tullamore)
18. Colm Doyle (Clara)
19. Cathal Mangan (Kilclonfert)
9. Jordan Hayes (Edenderry)
15. Cian Farrell (Edenderry)
10. Peter Cunningham (Bracknagh)
12. Anton Sullivan (Rhode)
13. Bernard Allen (Tubber)
11. Ruairi McNamee (Rhode)
14. Niall McNamee (Rhode)
Subs
7. Joseph O’Connor (St Rynagh’s) for Hayes (27)
20. Rory Egan (Edenderry) for Cunningham (56)
24. Carl Stewart (Clara) for Mangan (66)
17. Conor McNamee (Rhode) for Ruairi McNamee (68)
8. Aaron Leavy (Tullamore) for Allen (71)
Referee: David Coldrick (Meath)
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