Make shift Kildare make a mess of it
DCU 3-7 KILDARE 1-12
By Ger McNally
THE O’Byrne Cup has been kind to Kildare in recent seasoms but their first defeat in more than two years will leave a bitter taste.
This makeshift side of juniors and seniors were cruising to victory when Eamonn Callaghan’s 46th minute goal put the Lilywhites ten points up. But Dean Rock took the game by the scruff of the neck and scored two goals inside the next 14 minutes to set up a dramatic finish which culminated in Philly McMahon’s winning goal in the 72nd minute.
Kildare started slowly and were 0-3 to no score behind after 11 minutes. At that stage it seemed easy for DCU as they played their way through the Kildare defence at leisure. The Lilywhites had barely got out of their own half in that opening period and it seemed like the occasion was going to be too much for the inexperienced side but all of a sudden, Kildare came into the game into the game – and in some style too.
Nine points on the bounce followed as Kildare put their miserable start to the league campaign behind them. Caomhín McDonnell of Sarsfields certainly enjoyed his chance to show what he could do and helped himself to three of those nine points while St Laurence’s forward Dessie Lawlor chipped in with a brace.
DCU goalkeeper Rob Hennelly finally broke that run of scores with a 31st minute 45 but Kildare substitute Seamus Hanafin replied in kind just seconds after his introduction to leave the half time score at 0-10 to 0-4.
Hugh McGrillen was one of the few seniors players on show for Kildare and he was heavily involved in the early stages of the second half. Firstly, he made a goal line save to keep out Jack Brady’s effort and a minute later, he pointed at the far end to stretch Kildare’s lead.
Kildare’s advantage got even bigger when Ken Donnelly intercepted Philly McMahon’s free-kick and teed up Callaghan for Kildare’s goal. Perhaps that led to complacency in the Kildare ranks as the college side took complete control after Callaghan’s strike.
DCU’s first goal was crucial as it gave them new-found belief. Robbie Eyres didn’t cover himself in glory when he came for a high ball and when he didn’t claim it, Rock was left with a simple tap-in.
Antoin McFadden and Paul Flynn then struck points as the DCU comeback gathered momentum before Rock shot to the net for a second time with ten minutes to go. Suddenly, there was just two points between the teams. Kildare packed their half with 13 men, seemingly happy to surrender possession. There was one opportunity to close out the game during the onslaught when a rare break from defence saw Joe Kavanagh set up Alan Smith but his goal-bound effort was brilliantly blocked by Luke Bree. A point would have put Kildare three ahead and maybe Smith should have knocked the ball over the bar but the goal was on and he had every right to go for it.
Unfortunately that moment came back to haunt Kildare when Rock set up Philly McMahon for a winning goal in injury-time. It looked like Kildare’s bitter protests that the goal should have been ruled out because of a square ball were legitimate but referee Sean Carroll and his umpires were having none of it. And so Kildare were not to have any silverware early in 2012.
DCU: Rob Hennelly .-. (..); Luke Bree, Philip McMahon .-., Eoin Culligan; James McCarthy, Jonathan Cooper, Ciaran Cafferky; Keith Dooney, Paul Flynn .-.; Kevin Keenan, Fionn O’Shea, Cathal Craig . Jack Brady, Dean Rock .- . (.fs), Antoin McFadden .-.. Subs: Eoghan O’Gara for Dooney, h/t; Neil Collins for McCarthy, ..; Killian Keogh for O’Gara, ..; David Gavin for Craig, .., Greg Gibson for Keenan, ...
KILDARE: Robbie Eyres; Shane Bergin .-., Hugh McGrillen .-., Darren Barker; Kevin Murnaghan, Mick Foley, Karl Ennis; Conor Feeney, Paddy Dunne; Caomhín McDonnell .-., Eamonn Callaghan .-., Tomás McCann; Alan Smith .-.f, Ken Donnelly .-., Dessie Lawlor .-.. Subs: Seamus Hanafin .-. (. ..) for McCann, ..; Joe Kavanagh for McDonnell, ..; Jamie Lambe for Feeney, ..; Aidan Dunne for Donnelly, ..; Barry Noone for Lawlor, ...
REF: Seam Carroll (Westmeath)