Leinster SFC Quarter-Final

KILDARE 2-22 LOUTH 0-12

By Ger McNally at O'Connor Park

KILDARE began their Leinster SFC campaign with a comprehensive win over Louth in Tullamore. Second half goals from Kevin Feely and Darragh Kirwan helped ease their passage through.

Kildare made a flying start to the game and scored the first seven points inside the opening 16 minutes.

Even though Conor Early hit back for Louth with their first score, by the time Paul Cribbin made it 0-10 to 0-1 in the 22nd minute, all six forwards were already on the scoresheet from open play.

Louth improved after that though and Sam Mulroy and Conor Grimes clipped over points shortly after. They had the ball in the net in the 28th minute but Liam Jackson’s effort was ruled out after he was adjudged to have been inside the square.

Kildare led 0-13 to 0-5 at half time but Louth made real headway into that lead in the minutes after the break and they scored the first three points after the restart to cut Kildare’s lead to five points.

However, Ryan’s men re-established their dominance in the game when they were awarded a penalty in the 47th minute when Niall Sharkey fouled Daniel Flynn just as he was preparing to shoot at goal. Kevin Feely stepped up to take the kick and found the bottom corner even though goalkeeper James Califf had dived the right way.

After that, Kildare were in charge and they got a good contribution off the substitute’s bench too with Kirwan’s late goal part of 1-5 contribution from himself and Paddy Woodgate.

It was a confident display from Ryan’s team and they appear to be well poised heading into the Leinster semi-finals.

Scorers for Kildare: D Kirwan 1-3 (1f), J Hyland 0-5 (1f), B McCormack 0-4, K Feely 1-0 (pen), D Flynn (1m), P Cribbin 0-3 each, P Woodgate 0-2 (1f), B McLoughlin, A Beirne 0-1 each.

Scorers for Louth: S Mulroy 0-5 (1m, 1f), C Grimes 0-3 (2m), C Early, C Byrne, T Durnin, J Murphy 0-1 each.

KILDARE: Mark Donnellan; Mick O’Grady, Shea Ryan, Ryan Houlihan; Tony Archbold, James Murray, Kevin Flynn; Kevin Feely, Kevin O’Callaghan; Alex Beirne, Ben McCormack, Paul Cribbin; Brian McLoughlin, Daniel Flynn, Jimmy Hyland. Subs: Darragh Kirwan for McLoughlin (49), Paddy McDermott for Beirne (52), David Hyland for Murray (62), Paddy Woodgate for Hyland (66), Michael Joyce for Houlihan (inj 66).

LOUTH: James Califf; Dan Corcoran, Bevan Duffy, Donal McKenny; John Clutterbuck, Niall Sharkey, Eoghan Callaghan; Tommy Durnin, Conor Early; Liam Jackson, Sam Mulroy, Conall McKeever; Ciaran Downey, Conor Grimes, Ciaran Byrne. Subs: Leonard Grey for Clutterbuck (28), Tom Jackson for Byrne (ht), Dermot Campbell for Early (56), Ciaran Keenan for Callaghan (58), Jack Murphy for Durnin (67, b/s), Gerard Browne for Duffy (70+2).

Referee: David Gough (Meath).