Kelly bags brace as U20s begin with a win in Wicklow
Ronan Kelly scored goals in either half as Kildare beat Wicklow in the opening round of the U20 Leinster Football Championship Photo: Pat Ahern
Kildare opened their Dalata Hotel Group Leinster Under-20 Football Championship campaign with a comprehensive sixteen-point win over Wicklow on a chilly night in the An Tóchar club in Roundwood.
The scoreline perhaps flatters Kildare a little, though they were worthy winners. It looked as if we were in for a much tighter game in the opening quarter as the home side shaded the proceedings, going ahead by 0-4 to 0-2 with the lively Éanna Nolan proving a thorn in the Lilywhite defence with two points and Connor Doody and Ryan Harrison raising further white flags.
Kildare, fielding two of Brian Flanagan’s senior panel in Liam Kelly and Colm Moran, could only muster two points in response in that period, those coming from Ruaidhrí Lawlor and a free from Moran but an unanswered 1-8 from that point to half-time saw them turn the game firmly in their favour.
The excellent TJ Nolan landed the first point in that sequence before Moran (free), Ronan Kelly, Daniel Colbert and Nolan again gave them a 0-7 to 0-4 advantage by the 21st minute.
They were almost rocked back on their heels though when Wicklow corner-forward Thomas Tisdall was first to react to a Kenneth Cullen ball in on top of the goalmouth, but he could only deflect it onto the crossbar and Kildare goalkeeper Charlie Carroll was able to clear.
A goal then might have made a big difference and when Kildare tagged on two points from Moran and one from Athy clubmate Cian Keaveny they were well in the driving seat coming up to half-time.
They embellished that lead with the last kick of the half, when the increasingly influential Ronan Kelly, another Athy forward, got on the end of a ball from Cian McKevitt and managed to finish to the net despite being fouled.
That gave the visitors a commanding 1-10 to 0-4 half-time advantage, but they were slow out of the traps again in the second half. Liam Kelly sent a glorious goal chance wide as he and his colleagues went eleven minutes without a score before namesake Ronan broke that spell with a point. Wicklow had landed the game’s first two-pointer moments earlier through Oisín Murphy.
Kildare took control again though with two frees from corner-forward Kelly and the jig was well and truly up when the Athy man netted his second goal of the evening in the 46th minute, burying the rebound after substitute Luke Murray’s fisted effort came back off the crossbar.
Nolan, the powerful St Laurence’s man at midfield, registered his third point before Murphy responded for Wicklow to make it 2-14 to 0-7 but Kildare added to their lead with points from Jimmy Lynch and Nolan again, his fourth, before Clogherinkoe man Lynch was set up by McKevitt for a low finish for the third goal on 60 minutes.
Wicklow added a second two-pointer in injury time through Patrick Small, but it was too little too late against a reasonably impressive Kildare outfit, who meet Offaly next Wednesday in Manguard Park, in the three-team Group 3.
Charlie Carroll (Eadestown); Finn Dowling (Kilcock), Ben Ryan (Round Towers), Senan Gallagher (St Laurence’s); Harry Redmond (Sarsfields), Cian McKevitt (Naas), Liam Kelly (Milltown); Evan Boyle (Carbury), TJ Nolan (St Laurence’s) 0-4; Daniel Colbert (Clane) 0-1, Euan Cowzer (Naas), Ruaidhrí Lawlor (St Laurence’s) 0-1; Cian Keaveny (Athy) 0-1, Colm Moran (Athy) 0-4, Ronan Kelly (Athy) 2-4 (2f). Subs: Luke Murray (Celbridge) for Cian Keaveny 42, Austin Donegan (Rathangan) for Cowzer 49, Calum Keaveny (Athy) for Redmond 49, Jimmy Lynch (Clogherinkoe) 1-1 for Moran 51, Paul O’Dea (Maynooth) for Colbert 56.
Adam O’Leary; Joe Kindlon, Connor Doody 0-1, Cian Keogh; Tiernan Gahan, Kenneth Cullen, Barry Kealy; Regan Kelly, Oisín Murphy 0-3 (1tp); Patrick Small 0-2 (tp), Conor Broderick, Ryan Harrison 0-1; Thomas Tisdall, Éanna Nolan 0-2, Fionn Darcy. Subs: Lorcan Toomey for Gahan h-t, David Peppard for Darcy (h-t), JJ Brady for Keogh (temp) 43-45, Jack O’Leary for Tisdall 43, Mark O’Reilly for Harrison 56, Brady for Kelly 61.
Andrew Smyth (Meath).
