Allianz Football League Division 2 South

KILDARE 2-18 LAOIS 1-8

By Rory Delaney at MW Hire O'Moore Park

Kildare will contest the Allianz NFL Division 2 semi-finals after a well-deserved win over Laois in O’Moore Park.

Jack O’Connor’s side were 13 clear at the final whistle and full value for it, controlling proceedings pretty much from start to finish and picking off some lovely scores to boot. They could do with tuning things up in defence, handing Laois a sloppy goal in the second half and coughing up plenty of chances which a profligate Laois could not punish.

It’s off to a relegation battle for Mike Quirke and Laois after three disappointing outings, with their fate further in jeopardy as Colm Begley and Donie Kingston missed out here due to injury.

Kildare edged the opening stages of the game, even if Laois took the lead thanks to an Evan O’Carroll point with a little over 20 seconds on the clock.

Kildare drew level in the fifth minute through a Neil Flynn free, and then a nice turn and finish from Jimmy Hyland moments later put them ahead. Kevin Feely doubled the advantage a minute later as Kildare started to take control, and the lead went out to three when Brian McLaughlin hit the target from 25 yards.

Laois were falling behind but still competitive, picking their way through the Kildare defence on occasion but too often their shooting let them down, as they registered six wides in the opening 20 minutes of play.

Despite that, they were still within range of Kildare for most of the half, the visitors taking their time to make Mike Quirke’s men regret all those missed chances. Evan O’Carroll got Laois back within two before the water break, but Jimmy Hyland (mark) and Fergal Conway quickly restored Kildare’s four point cushion.

Gary Walsh kept Laois in touch with a free before a wonderful goal-line clearance from Kieran Lillis denied Luke Flynn the chance to score the opening goal of the game.

Unfortunately for Laois that didn’t jolt them into action, despite another Walsh free, as Kildare finished the half strongly. Kevin Flynn popped over their sixth point before they worked Kevin Feely in on goal down the right wing. He unselfishly opted to pass the ball across goal when Luke Flynn, this time unencumbered by the last-ditch efforts of Kieran Lillis, palmed the ball into an empty net.

That proved to be the last score of the half, as Kildare lead 1-7 to 0-4 at the break.

Laois needed to show more impetus in the early stages of the second half which, to their credit, they duly did, but without making any inroads into the Kildare lead. Gary Walsh and Neil Flynn traded a brace of points to keep the six-point gap intact.

Kildare then put a dagger through the heart of the home side when they forced them into a turnover 35 yards from the Kildare goal, broke forward at pace and saw wing-back Kevin Flynn roll in their second goal.

It should have been clear sailing to the final whistle from there, although it was Kildare who made life difficult for themselves by giving away a bizarre goal. Paul Cribbin went to take a free in their own left half back position, with goalkeeper Mark Donnellan springing out from his goal to the right half-back position to take the pass. Cribbin’s attempted pass screwed off his boot and fell into the grateful arms of Laois full-forward Gary Walsh, who evaded a couple of challengers before slotting into an unguarded net.

Eoin Lowry added a point for the hosts to get them within five, but Kildare had too much at stake to allow this to become competitive. They wrestled back control of the game with points from Aaron Masterson and Jimmy Hyland to kill off any hopes Laois had of getting a result, and they comfortably saw out the game from there to book their place in the semi-finals.

Scorers for Kildare: Neil Flynn 0-4 (0-3 frees), Jimmy Hyland 0-4 (0-1 free, 0-1 mark), Kevin Flynn 1-1, Shane O’Sullivan 0-3 (0-1 free), Aaron Masterson 0-2, Fergal Conway, Kevin Feely, Conor Hartley, Brian McLaughlin 0-1 each.

Scorers for Laois: Gary Walsh 1-5 (0-4 frees), Evan O’Carroll 0-2, Eoin Lowry 0-1.

KILDARE: Mark Donnellan; Mark Dempsey, Mick O’Grady, David Hyland; Kevin Flynn, Eoin Doyle, Ryan Houlihan; Luke Flynn, Kevin Feely; Neil Flynn, Fergal Conway, Paul Cribbin; Jimmy Hyland, Darragh Kirwan, Brian McLaughlin. Subs: Aaron Masterson for Feely (half-time), Shane O’Sullivan for McLaughlin (49 mins), Alex Beirne for Kirwan (52 mins), Paddy Brophy for N Flynn (59 mins), Shea Ryan for Houlihan (67 mins), Conor Hartley for Cribbin (67 mins).

LAOIS: Niall Corbet; Robert Pigott, Mark Timmons, Gareth Dillon; Seamus Lacey, Patrick O’Sullivan, Alan Farrell; Danny O’Reilly, John O’Loughlin; Brian Byrne, Kieran Lillis, Eoin Lowry; Paul Kingston, Gary Walsh, Evan O’Carroll. Subs: Benny Carroll for O’Reilly (half time), Mark Barry for Kingston (50 mins), Eoin Buggie for O’Sullivan (54 mins), Finbarr Crowley for Timmons (58 mins), Brian Daly for Byrne (58 mins), Sean Byrne for O’Loughlin (64 mins), Ross Munnelly for Walsh (64 mins).

Referee: Paul Faloon (Down)