James Burke scored five points from play for Kildare in their Joe McDonagh Cup victory over Carlow.
Joe McDonagh Cup
Kildare 2-23 Carlow 1-20
By Kieran Murphy at Netwatch Cullen
The race for Joe McDonagh Cup honours is wide open after Kildare pulled off somewhat of a surprise victory in this third-round game at Netwatch Cullen Park on Saturday.
Carlow were firm favourites to make it three wins out of three and even two converted frees early on didn’t upset Kildare. They hit back with Gerry Keegan opening their account with a point and the sides were tied at three points each shortly afterwards.
In the first half, David Qualter landed four frees for the visitors while Gerry Keegan and James Burke scored three and two points respectively from play.
The only goal of the half came on 20 minutes and by that time Kildare were three points up and looking in control. It was a text-book attacking goal with Cathal Dowling off-loading to Jack Sheridan who finally beat Brian Tracey in the Carlow goal. Earlier, when the two came face to face, it was the Carlow man who made the smother save at the expense of a 65.
Six points down before the interval, Carlow dug deep to stay contention with Kavanagh scoring six points but the visitors led 1-12 to 0-11 at half-time.
Seconds into the second half, Kildare struck for a Cathal Dowling goal and Keegan added a point to lift their supporters hopes even further.
A brilliant Chris Nolan point suggested the home side were not finished yet. They were awarded a penalty when Rian Boran was adjudged to have fouled James Doyle on the edge of the large parallelogram. The full-back was black-carded and Kavanagh found the bottom right-hand corner of the net. It was a marginal decision but Carlow needed everything that was going by that stage.
Against the fourteen, Carlow enjoyed a spell of dominance but when Kildare eventually got Boran back, they scored six unanswered points. Both Qualter and Burke added to their tally with a brace of points each which was key to maintaining their advantage as Carlow ran out of ideas.
Scorers for Kildare: David Qualter 0-7 (fs), James Burke 0-5, Cathal Dowling 1-1, Gerry Keegan 0-4 (1f), each, Jack Sheridan 1-0, Jack Travers, Darragh Melville 0-2 each, Daire Guerin, Cathal McCabe 0-1 each.
Scorers for Carlow: Marty Kavanagh 1-7 (1-0 pen, 5fs), James Doyle 0-4, Chris Nolan 0-3, Conor Kehoe, Jon Nolan 0-2 each, Ciaran Whelan, Paddy Boland 0-1 each.
KILDARE: Paddy McKenna; Richy Hogan, Rian Boran, Daniel O’Meara; Paul Dolan, Simon Leacy, Cian Boran; Daire Guerin, James Burke; David Qualter, Cathal McCabe, Gerry Keegan; Jack Sheridan, Cathal Dowling, Jack Travers.
Subs: Darragh Melville for Dolan (58), Muiris Curtin for Guerin (63), Conn Kehoe for Keegan (72), Killian Harrington for Qualter (73).
CARLOW: Brian Tracey; Paul Doyle, Dion Wall, Paidi O’Shea; Evan Kealy, Kevin McDonald, Jack McCullagh; James Doyle, Fiachra Fitzpatrick; Jon Nolan, Conor Kehoe, Ciaran Whelan; Chris Nolan, Marty Kavanagh, Paddy Boland.
Subs: Tony Lawlor for O’Shea (43), Donagh Murphy for Boland (55), Ted Joyce for Kavanagh (66), Jack Treacy for J Nolan (72).
Referee: Eamonn Furlong (Wexford).
