Kildare players, Darragh Melville and Jack Travers, celebrate with supporters at Cedral St Conleth's Park. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Joe McDonagh Cup
Kildare 1-26 Down 1-14
By Ger McNally at Cedral St Conleth's Park
Kildare are heading to Croke Park for their first ever Joe McDonagh Cup final after their fourth successive win in the group stages at Cedral St Conleth's Park.
In the end, Down were smiling too as Westmeath’s win over Kerry means they avoid relegation to the Christy Ring Cup for next year, but it’s Kildare who go marching on as they extend their season by at least two more games.
Brian Dowling’s team came into the game knowing they would be guaranteed a place in the final with a win and in the end the form book played out as you would expect given the respective results enjoyed by both teams in the lead up to the game.
The opening exchanges were tight and when Donal Hughes scored his second point of the game, it levelled the scores at 0-4 each after 12 minutes.
But Kildare took off on a scoring burst after that and went into the half time break leading by 1-14 to 0-7. They enjoyed near total dominance around the middle third of the field, even though they lost midfielder James Burke to injury, with the likes of Cathal McCabe, Simon Leacy and the exceptional Cian Boran all enjoying terrific games.
Up front, they had the sprinkling of quality in free taker and goalscorer David Qualter, and also Gerry Keegan, who at times led the Down backline a merry dance.
Kildare’s goal arrived in the 29th minute and summed up the nature of their performance. Boran won the ball back on his own 45 metre line and played a ball up along the right wing to Daire Guerin. The big wing forward carried the ball a huge distance, right into the heart of the Down defence, but still had the composure to the cut a pass across the goalmouth to Qualter who turned the ball into the net.
Down scored three of the first four points of the second half but Kildare were soon on top again and Keegan almost got the goal his performance deserved but his 48th minute shot was saved by Stephen Keith.
Perhaps news of Westmeath’s big lead over Kerry filtered, which reduced Down’s need for a win and maybe took a slight edge of their display, filtered through but Kildare kicked up a gear in the final quarter.
Qualter’s free taking took him into double digits and Killian Harrington also scored off the bench.
Down scored a consolation goal late in injury time through Shea Pucci, but that mattered little, unlike the late goal that Laois scored against Carlow that means they will be Kildare’s opponents in Croke Park in two weeks’ time.
Scorers for Kildare: D Qualter 1-13 (12fs, 1’65), D Melville 0-3, G Keegan 0-3, J Burke 0-1, C Dowling 0-1, J Travers 0-1, C McCabe 0-1, S Leacy 0-1, P Dolan 0-1, K Harrington 0-1.
Scorers for Down: P Sheehan 0-8 (7fs, 1’65), D Hughes 0-3, S Pucci 1-0, F Turpin 0-1, D Sands 0-1, T Prenter 0-1.
Kildare: Paddy McKenna; Richy Hogan, Rian Boran, Daniel O’Meara, Paul Dolan, Simon Leacy; Cathal McCabe, James Burke; Daire Guerin, Darragh Melville, David Qualter, Gerry Keegan, Cathal Dowling, Jack Sheridan.
Subs: Jack Travers for Burke, 25; Conn Kehoe for Sheridan, 57; Liam O’Reilly for McCabe, 61; Killian Harrington for Dowling, 64; Jack Higgins for Keegan, 66.
Down: Stephen Keith; Ben Teggart, Matt Conlan, Caolan Taggert, Mark Fisher, Ruairi McCrickard, Niall McFarland; Tim Prenter, Donal Hughes; Phelim Savage, Pearse Óg McCrickard, Finn Turpin, Eoghan Sands, Paul Sheehan, Daihi Sands.
Subs: Chris Egan for P Savage, 39; Liam Savage for Fisher, 55; Michael Dorrian for McCrickard, 55; Shea Pucci for Turpin, 58; Conor Cassidy for McFarland, 62.
Referee: Brian Keon (Galway).
