Kildare clinch semi-final spot with first ever minor victory over Kerry
Kildare captain Charlie Doran, carries the ball forward during the win over Kerry in the All-Ireland Minor Football Championship Photo: Brendan Gleeson
Kildare minor footballers’ odyssey continues after a fully deserved All Ireland Quarter Final win over Kerry in the TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick this afternoon. It was a historic win for the county, a first over the Kingdom in five attempts at this level, and a first ever over any Munster opposition at minor level.
Heading into the final two minutes of the opening half that outcome looked a little unlikely. Kildare had the advantage of a strong wind in that opening period but only led by 1-4 to 0-4, their advantage coming courtesy of a superbly finished Jack Reilly goal after only two minutes. Kill’s Reilly snuck in behind his marker to take advantage of a superb delivery from captain Charlie Doran.
But after the scores dried up somewhat, Tommy Konstantin’s charges found their shooting boots in those dying embers of the first half with a superbly struck ’45 from Leinster final hero Logan Tennyson and three two-pointers from play from Reilly and Clane duo Eoghan Lyons and Doran helping to send them in nine points clear at the interval (1-11 to 0-5).
We wondered whether even that advantage was sufficient given the wind blowing straight down the pitch, but a strangely subdued third quarter suited Kildare with Kerry only managing two points to bring the gap down to seven.
And when the superb Lyons won a kick-out and sent Páidí Ryan haring towards goal before setting up Cian Keogh for the palmed finish to the net, Kildare were ten points clear with fifteen minutes remaining. Reilly added a close-range free, despite a mishit, to stretch the lead further.
Kerry finally stirred themselves and the game opened up into an end-to-end scorefest for the final eleven minutes plus injury time. Substitute Cillian Moynihan’s shot was parried by Kildare goalkeeper Joe Crotty but Maidhc Ó Sé, rushing in, finished to the net to give the Kingdom hope.
When Killian Fitzgerald landed a two point free with seven minutes left there was now just a six-point gap but Kildare continued to play calm, confident, possession football and they benefitted from a stroke of luck when Ryan appeared to mishit a shot and scrambling ‘keeper Seán Sargent slipped on the goal-line and fumbled with Castledermot’s Keogh on hand to scramble home his second goal.
Kerry, finally finding their shooting boots, landed two quickfire two-pointers from substitutes Mikey Somers and Moynihan to make it 3-12 to 1-13 heading into injury time.
Still, there was time for both sides to rattle the net once more. Jamie Flood’s desire saw him win a ball on the ’45 metre line and provided his side with a three-on-one advantage with Kelly shuffling his pass on for Callum Cowzer to finish emphatically for Kildare’s fourth goal.
Kerry hit back again in the game’s final moments with wing-back Mikey Corridon’s long ball broken down by Ó Sé with Moynihan applying the blistering finish to take some of the gloss off the scoreline a little from a Kildare perspective.
Having led from first minute to last in what was arguably their most emphatic performance of the year, there was no doubting Kildare’s superiority against the aristocrats from Munster, and they will have the opportunity to test themselves against another powerhouse in Tyrone in the semi-final. They’ll relish that as they seek to reach a first national final at this level since their one and only appearance, a defeat to the Red Hands in 1973.
Joe Crotty (St Kevin’s); Eoin Markey (Kill), Ryan Crawford (Kilcock), Liam Mescal (Eadestown); Fionn Lawlor (St Laurence’s), Jack Doran (Clane), Luke Shanahan (Sallins); Charlie Doran (Clane) 0-1, Páidí Ryan (Round Towers) 0-1; Cian Keogh (Castledermot) 2-0, Aidan Tobin (Allenwood), Eoghan Lyons (Clane) 0-3 (1tp); Jack Reilly (Kill) 1-4 (1tp,2fs), Greg Kelly (Castledermot) 0-2 (tp), Logan Tennyson (St Kevin’s) 0-1 (’45). Subs: Jamie Flood (Maynooth) for Tobin 40, Aodhán Bergin (Grangenolvin) for Tennyson 51, Fiachra Martin (Maynooth) for Lawlor 57, Callum Cowzer (Naas) 1-0 for Reilly 59, Gearóid Clare (Moorefield) for Keogh 59.
Seán Sargent; Jan Ziober, John Breen, Conor Clifford; Danny Murphy 0-1, Cian Stack, Mikey Corridon 0-1; Maidhc Ó Sé 1-0, Jack Collins; Lúc Mac Gearailt 0-1, Daragh Keane 0-3 (3fs), Daithí Laide; Danny Lane 0-1, Fionn O’Dowd, Cillian O’Donoghue. Subs: Mikey Somers 0-2 (for Collins) 15, Cillian Moynihan 1-2 (1tp) for O’Dowd 38, Seanie Clifford for Laide 38, Killian Fitzgerald 0-2 for O’Donoghue 48, Timmy Kennelly for Lane 57.
James Regan (Cork).
