Kildare see off Laois to reach last four in Leinster
Ben McCormack made a huge impact for Kildare when introduced off the bench in the second half Photo: ©INPHO/Lorraine O'Sullivan
Kildare surged past Laois in the second half of their Leinster Senior Football Quarter Final in Cedral St Conleth’s Park this afternoon to set up a Leinster semi-final meeting with Westmeath and put their relegation from Division 2 and five successive defeats behind them.
The bench impact of Kevin Feely and Ben McCormack was crucial in the second half as the Lilywhites overcame a penalty miss from Ben Loakman on the stroke of half-time to run out deserved winners.
Feely, listed to start, was held in reserve and replaced by Daragh Ryan with Brian McLoughlin switching to midfield, and with Alex Beirne, Colm Dalton, Ryan Sinkey, Jimmy Hyland and Jack Robinson all out, Kildare were missing a lot of quality, particularly in the forward ranks.
It was a first half that didn’t provide much evidence that Kildare had addressed many of the weaknesses that characterised their league campaign and having played with the wind to only turn around level at the interval would have left many in a big crowd fearing the worst.
But five points without reply in the fifteen minutes after the break and a goal from a back in form Darragh Kirwan later on settled the nerves despite a late burst from Laois that took the lead down from nine points to five at the finish.
With Kildare struggling on their own kick outs, winning only 27% of them in the opening half, goals from Paul Kingston (20 minutes) and Daragh Galvin (25) had put Laois deservedly ahead 2-5 to 0-8 after 25 minutes.
Kingston’s goal was a present from an errant kick-out from Kildare goalkeeper Cian Burke and formed the middle act in burst of 1-2 from the experienced forward in little over two minutes, while Galvin finished at the second attempt after Burke saved his initial effort.
Kildare still looked worryingly open at the back although the likes of James McGrath, Mark Dempsey and Ryan Burke grew into the game as it progressed.
Kildare hit back immediately after Galvin’s goal to level with Loakman finishing to the net after exciting corner-forward Eoin Cully had crashed his effort off the crossbar with goalkeeper Killian Roche well beaten.
Darragh Kirwan was then fortunate to see a short two-point effort bounce off the ground and over the bar for an orange flag but points from a Kingston free and Evan O’Carroll brought the O’Moore Men level heading for half-time (2-7 to 1-10).
There was more drama before the short whistle, though, when a smart move saw Darragh Swords through on goal and referee Conor Lane pointed to the spot when Alex Mohan brought down the Kildare forward.
Championship debutant Loakman stepped up for the spot kick, but the crossbar came to Laois’ rescue. An altercation between goalkeeper Roche and Loakman immediately afterwards saw both receive yellow cards when the players re-emerged for the second half.
It was sensible refereeing from Conor Lane, particularly considering the apparent play-acting from Roche, who duly received an unappreciative reception from the locals in the crowd at the half-time whistle.
Kildare called on Feely, their most experienced campaigner, at the interval and with partner Brendan Gibbons and Callum Bolton he helped to wrestle some of the control of the midfield area away from Laois as Kildare hit a crucial purple patch with those five unanswered points going a long way towards cementing their win.
That spell should have yielded a sixth point, but when Laois were penalised for a three-up breach, McLoughlin rather needlessly brought the simple tap-over free out beyond the arc for an attempt at a two-pointer and duly dropped it short into the breeze.
Cully, who was almost unmarkable in reprising his early league form, and who finished on five points from play, started that run of five points and further scores from Tommy Gill, Feely, Cully again and Swords saw them surge ahead.
It took Laois fifteen minutes to open their second half account through Patrick O’Sullivan and although O’Carroll added another, the introduction of McCormack gave Kildare more firepower again, the Sarsfields man scoring four points from five attempts from there to the end.
Laois hung in and were within five points with seven minutes left. But Kildare, growing more confident as the game wore on, fashioned a second goal when substitute Colm Moran set up Kirwan for a cool finish to Roche’s left to make it 2-19 to 2-11.
McCormack’s fourth point rounded off the Kildare scoring, but they fell asleep somewhat in the final minutes to allow a two-point free from Roche and a single from substitute Cian Nolan before Roche’s floated ’45 in the final minute cleared the crossbar, presumably accidentally, to leave five between them at the death.
A clearly relieved Flanagan was optimistic afterwards that pretty much all of his injured players will be in the mix over the next seven to ten days to push for a return against Westmeath, who surprised Division 2 champions Meath in their last eight encounter in Tullamore.
Cian Burke; Brian Byrne, Mark Dempsey, Ryan Burke; James McGrath, Eoin Lawlor, Tommy Gill 0-2; Brian McLoughlin, Brendan Gibbons; Callum Bolton, Darragh Swords 0-2, Daragh Ryan; Ben Loakman 1-2 (0-1f), Darragh Kirwan 1-4 (1tp), Eoin Cully 0-5. Subs: Colm Moran (temp) for Lawlor 29-31, Kevin Feely 0-1 for Ryan h-t, Ben McCormack 0-4 for Loakman 50, Moran for McLoughlin 56, Neil Flynn for Bolton 64, James Harris for McGrath 67.
Killian Roche 0-3 (1tpf,1’45); Jack Lacey, Trevor Collins, Alex Mohan; Kevin Swayne 0-1, Aaron McEvoy, Patrick O’Sullivan 0-1; Ciaran Burke, Conor Heffernan; Paul Kingston 1-3 (1f), Ronan Coffey 0-1, Robert Tyrrell; Brian Byrne, Daragh Galvin 1-2, Evan O’Carroll 0-3. Subs: Ben Dempsey for Lacey 29, Pa Kirwan for McEvoy h-t, Rioghan Murphy for Byrne 49, Cian Nolan 0-1 for Tyrrell 64, Darren Brennan for Coffey 67.
Conor Lane (Cork).
