Allianz Football League Division Two

Cork 2-14 Kildare 0-7

By Ger McNally at St Conleth's Park

This game in Newbridge between two sides who had both lost in the opening round turned into a very one-sided game as Cork bounced back from their defeat to Meath with this thumping win over Kildare.

Having conceded three goals last week, Cork tightened up defensively and held Kildare scoreless until the 28th minute. That defensive solidity wasn’t at the expense of their forward play and they caused Kildare endless problems, goals from Sean Powter in the 15th minute and from Cathail O’Mahony in the 74th minute the highlights of their afternoon.

There were no scores in the opening 10 minutes of the game but even though Kildare had more of the ball during that period, it still felt as if the game was being played on Cork’s terms. They protected their 45 very well and Kildare were restricted to attacking around the fringes of their defence.

Brian Hurley opened the scoring with points in the 10th and 14th minutes, and then turned provider for the opening goal of the game when he played the ball across the face of the Kildare goal and Powter was able to bundle home.

At that stage, the game already felt like it was slipping away from Kildare.

Cork had 1-6 on the scoreboard before Jimmy Hyland finally gave the large home support something to cheer about with Kildare’s first point.

The home manager Glenn Ryan had seen enough and made two substitutions before the break. One of those, Ben McCormack scored the last point of the first half but with the score at 1-8 to 0-2 as the sides headed for the dressing room, the game already felt over as a contest.

Kildare did improve very slightly in the opening stages of the second half and outscored Cork by 0-3 to 0-2 in the opening 15 minutes but any hope of getting back into the game evaporated when Alex Beirne let frustrations get the better of him and he was shown a red card for lashing out at a Cork player.

Cork saw the game out comfortably from there and they completed their afternoon when O’Mahony got in for a late goal, and a black card shown to Killian O’Hanlon in the final seconds proved completely inconsequential.

It puts John Cleary’s team in good health ahead of Dublin’s visit to Cork in two weeks but it’s back to the drawing board for Kildare and they badly need a response when they travel to Ennis to meet Clare in their next game.

Scorers for Cork: S Sherlock 0-4 (1f, 1’45), B Hurley 0-4 (1m, 1f, 1’45); C O'Mahony 1-1; S Powter 1-0; B O’Driscoll 0-3; C O’Callaghan 0-1, L Fahy 0-1.

Scorers for Kildare: J Robinson 0-3; J Hyland 0-2 (1f); B McCormack 0-1, D Kirwan 0-1.

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Cork: Michéal Aodh Martin; Maurice Shanley, Daniel O'Mahony, Tommy Walsh; Luke Fahy, Rory Maguire, Mattie Taylor; Colm O'Callaghan, Ian Maguire; Eoghan McSweeney, Sean Power, Brian O'Driscoll; Chris Óg Jones, Brian Hurley, Steven Sherlock.

Subs: Cathal O'Mahony for Jones (h/t); Ruairi Deane for McSweeney (51); Conor Corbett for Sherlock (55); Killian O'Hanlon for O'Callaghan (56-61, b/s); Sean Meehan for Powter (66-f/t, b/s), Killian O'Hanlon for Maguire (69); Cian Kiely for Maguire (70+3).

Kildare: Mark Donnellan; Mick O'Grady, Shea Ryan, Ryan Houlihan; Darragh Malone, Kevin Flynn, Paddy McDermott; Aaron Masterson, Kevin O'Callaghan; Neil Flynn, David Hyland, Paul Cribbin; Jimmy Hyland, Darragh Kirwan, Jack Robinson.

Subs: Tony Archbold for Houlihan (28); Ben McCormack for N Flynn (30); Alex Beirne for Cribbin (h/t); Kevin Feely for Masterson (45); Daniel Flynn for J Hyland (53).

Referee: Jerome Henry (Mayo).