Kildare see off Leinster rivals in impressive style
Eoin Cully scored the second of Kildare's three goals during the win over Offaly Photo: Sean Brilly
KILDARE collected their first full complement of Division 2 League points when they claimed a nine-point victory over neighbours, Offaly, in Round 2 in ideal conditions in Cedral St Conleth’s Park on Saturday evening. The sizable crowd were still filing through the turnstiles when Laois Referee, Seamus Mulhare threw the ball in at 6pm but Kildare didn’t waste any time in setting about their task. The Lilywhites were 1-2 to the good inside five minutes with a point each from Alex Beirne (free) and Callum Bolton sandwiching a brilliant goal from Beirne. Brian McLoughlin won Cian Burke’s kick out and transferred immediately to Beirne and the Naas man shrugged off would be tacklers to finish passed Sean O’Toole in the Offaly goals. O’Toole was continually under pressure from his kick outs all through the game as Kildare pushed up to deny the Faithful County any space.
Offaly did respond with a point apiece from Dan Molloy and Aaron Leavy to reduce the deficit to Beirne’s goal by the tenth minute but Ben Loakman raised two Kildare white flags in the space of 30 seconds. The second of those was an audacious effort as he chased what looked like a hopeless ball to the endline but he managed to pull on the ball from almost an impossible angle to send it between the posts. Kildare should have had their second goal in the 17th minute but McLoughlin hit the side netting with an effort after a great outfield catch by Bolton.
Offaly’s response was immediate to this left off with centre half forward, Keith O’Neill, firing over a two pointer from play and a point from a free to leave Kildare leading 1-4 to 0-5 going into the last 15 minutes of the half. The Lilywhites were to outscore their neighbours 1-5 to 0-1 in those closing minutes to the half. The points, all from play, came from McLoughlin (0-2), Beirne, Loakman and Bolton and the icing on the cake came in the shape of a goal from Eoin Cully a minute before the break. Brian Byrne won a Kildare kickout and found Beirne inside and he quickly transferred to Eoin Cully who finished with aplomb. With O’Neill scoring for Offaly, Kildare went in a healthy 2-9 to 0-6 at the break.
A super win for Kildare pic.twitter.com/6aVPE7ewLS
— Kildare Nationalist Sport (@KildareNatSport) January 31, 2026
Cully added a point immediately after the restart but that was to be Kildare’s last score until the 48th minute. In the meantime, Offaly enjoyed their best spell of the game rattling over six points without reply. Half time substitute Nathan Poland contributed three of those points while O’Neill added to his tally two frees, a two pointer and a single point, and suddenly Kildare’s advantage was back to four points. Points by second half substitute, Sam Doran and McLoughlin with a reply from Offaly substitute, Marcas Dalton, left five between them with 15 minutes left on the clock.
Kildare took the game by the scruff of the neck again, starting with a brilliant turn over from Eoin Lawlor, winning a ball he had no right to win near his own endline. The Naas man set up the attack which finished with a McLoughlin point and from the kick out Beirne fed Doran for Kildare’s third goal and the Offaly siege was lifted.
Points by Bolton, Man of the Match, Harry O’Neill, Kevin Feely and McLoughlin gave Kildare the cushion to close out the game and they could have a had a fourth goal when a late rasping shot by James Harris struck the crossbar.
A Beirne 1-3 (1f), S Doran 1-1, B Loakman 0-3, E Cully 1-1, B McLoughlin 0-5, C Bolton 0-2, H O’Neill 0-1, K Feely 0-1.
K O’Neill 0-7 (1ptf, 1tp, 1f), H Plunkett 0-4 (1tp, 1f), N Poland 0-3, A Leavy 0-1, D Molloy 0-1, M Dalton 0-1.
Cian Burke; Harry O’Neil, Padraic Spillane, Ryan Burke, James Harris, Eoin Lawlor, Brian Byrne; Kevin Feely, Brendan Gibbons; Brian McLoughlin, Callum Bolton, Colm Moran, Ben Loakman, Alex Beirne, Eoin Cully. Subs: Sam Doran for Moran, 45; Daragh Mangan for Gibbons, 58; Darragh Swords for Beirne, 60; Liam Kelly for Lawlor, 64 Dara Crowley for Bolton, 68.
Sean O’Toole; Shane O’Toole Greene, David Dempsey, Lee Pearson, Cormac Egan, Jordan Hayes, Diarmuid Egan; Jack McEvoy, Aaron Leavy; Ciaran Murphy, Keith O’Neill, Rory Egan, Dan Molloy, Jack Bryant, Eoin Sawyer. Subs: Nathan Poland for Byrant, h/t; Marcus Dalton for Molloy, h/t; Harry Plunkett for Sawyer, 49; Eoin Dunne for D Egan, 59; Daire McDaid for O’Toole Green, 66.
Seamus Mulhare (Laois).
