Tailteann Cup Group One

Kildare 4-19 (4-2-15) Sligo 1-24 (1-4-16)

By Kevin Egan at King & Moffatt Dr. Hyde Park

When Daniel Flynn slammed in Kildare’s fourth goal ten minutes into the second half, the Lilywhites were 15 points ahead of Sligo and even allowing for the strong breeze that was blowing down Dr. Hyde Park, it looked as if Brian Flanagan’s side had done more than enough.

With just 15 minutes remaining the gap was still 11, Sligo had yet to kick a two-pointer from play, and Kildare were picking off enough scores on the break to keep their Connacht opponents at bay.

But in the modern game, no lead is safe, and three doubles in the space of five minutes, two from the boot of Pat Spillane, gave the crowd plenty to shout about in the closing stages. By then, Sligo had taken control at midfield where Cian Lally and Canice Mulligan were winning the kickout battle, and despite some touch-tight defending from Mark Dempsey, Niall Murphy seemed to be able to find the posts from all sorts of angles.

With five minutes to play, Murphy lobbed up a shot and let the wind do the rest to reduce the gap to two points (4-17 to 1-24), and when they reflect on this game during the week, Sligo will know that they had their chances to keep that momentum going.

Lee Deignan put one two-point attempt wide, Cian Lally turned down the chance to take on another when he had time and space some 50 metres out, and the game ultimately hinged on a handpass from Murphy where he looked to connect with Patrick O’Connor in behind the Kildare full-back line, but on a weekend where there were several last-ditch defensive plays that changed results, a fingertip interception from Dempsey averted the danger.

Kildare then tapped over a close-range free for a breach, and as they held possession to wind down the clock in stoppage time, the ball was eventually worked to Ryan Sinkey for the insurance point that confirmed Kildare as one of the four home quarter-finalists.

Perhaps the biggest factor in Kildare’s victory was something that was considered an Achilles Heel for most of the season; their goalscoring. After Cian Lally got the game out to a sensational start by slicing through the centre of the defence and rifling the ball into the top corner, Daniel Flynn replied in kind, collecting a pass from Alex Beirne and scoring at the second attempt, after his first effort was parried by Aidan Devaney.

Colm Dalton set up James McGrath for their second with Alex Beirne hammering the ball into the roof of the net for their third after 15 minutes.

Kildare struggled to tack on enough points to really and truly put Sligo away, with good peripheral defence restricting them to just two two-pointers on a day when kickouts from the town end goal easily reached the opposition 45m line.

3-11 to 1-7 at half-time was far from game over, though points from Callum Bolton and Flynn at the start of the second half added an extra few degrees of incline to the hill that Sligo had to climb.

A fine finish from Flynn for his second goal, part of an overall performance that underlined the value of the returning Johnstownbridge player.

Scorers for Kildare: Daniel Flynn 2-3, Alex Beirne 1-6 (1tpf, 1 45, 0-1f), James McGrath 1-0, Colm Dalton 0-3 (1tp), Ryan Sinkey 0-2, Tommy Gill 0-2, Niall Kelly 0-1, Callum Bolton 0-1, Brian McLoughlin 0-1.

Scorers for Sligo: Niall Murphy 0-10 (1tpf, 0-2f), Pat Spillane 0-5 (2tp), Cian Lally 1-0, Patrick O’Connor 0-3, David Quinn 0-2, Canice Mulligan 0-2 (1tp), Alan McLoughlin 0-2f.

Kildare: Cian Burke; Mark Dempsey, Brian Byrne, Harry O’Neill; Tommy Gill, David Hyland, James McGrath; Kevin Feely, Brendan Gibbons; Colm Dalton, Alex Beirne, Ben McCormack; Ryan Sinkey, Daniel Flynn, Brian McLoughlin.

Subs: Jimmy Hyland for McCormack (2), Niall Kelly for Hyland (28), Callum Bolton for Gibbins (half-time), Kevin Flynn for Bolton (49), Jack McKevitt for Gill (67).

Sligo: Aidan Devaney; Paul McNamara, Eddie McGuinness, Evan Lyons; Brian Cox, Darragh Cummins, Jack Lavin; Alan Reilly, Paul Kilcoyne, David Quinn, Cian Lally; Canice Mulligan; Alan McLoughlin, Shane Deignan, Niall Murphy.

Subs: Luke Towey for McNamara (half-time), Ross Doherty for Lavin (43), Donal Conlon for Deignan (49), Pat Spillane for Reilly (49), Lee Deignan for Cummins (67)

Referee: Paddy Neilan (Roscommon).