McLoughlin climbs off the bench to kick Kildare into Tailteann Cup final

TAILTEANN CUP SEMI-FINAL

KILDARE 1-13 FERMANAGH 0-9

Wins in Croke Park for Kildare footballers should never be sniffed at, nor qualification for national finals, but there was no one shouting from the rooftops after Brian Flanagan’s mix of young and old emerged with the spoils in this Tailteann Cup semi-final against Fermanagh at Headquarters on Sunday afternoon.

No doubt the small crowd in the cavernous stadium had an impact and the heavy summer downpours that interrupted both halves made the Croker surface treacherous. But none of that explained a sub-standard game in which the Lilywhites generally looked the stronger and more interested outfit against a surprisingly insipid Fermanagh, who seemed to have recovered well from their opening round defeat to Carlow prior to this.

The standard wasn’t quite as poor as the sides’ only other encounter at the venue, the infamous 2008 Qualifier where neither side could muster a score for the opening 25 minutes. But it wasn’t far off.

Fermanagh looked the stronger in the opening stages against a tentative Kildare and tricky corner-forward Conor Love and midfielder Darragh McGurn put them two points up straight from the throw-in.

Kildare livened up and Darragh Kirwan and Kevin Feely combined to provide Colm Dalton with a goal chance that was well smothered, as was the rebound. Feely might feel when he sees the re-run that he didn’t need to offload to the Sallins man.

But the captain’s two-pointer, perhaps generously awarded as an orange flag rather than white as goalkeeper Seán McNally clearly seemed to touch it onto the crossbar and over, and a point from Dalton coming in off the left wing gave them a 3-2 lead.

Fermanagh might have had a goal themselves as McGurn got inside Mark Dempsey, but Tommy Gill came to the rescue to take the sting out of the shot. That provided the Erne Men encouragement though and Ryan Lyons equalised from their third point after 8 minutes.

Feely crashed a shot off the crossbar in the 11th minute but at the other end they were looking too open for their own good and Love added his second to make it 4-3. But Fermanagh were wasteful at times and Daniel Flynn slalomed towards goal and shot a rasper just over the crossbar to level it up.

With the rain now belting down, Kildare, who were cleaned out on their own kick out in the opening half, began to get some traction off Fermanagh’s restarts, and points from Dalton and Alex Beirne gave them a two-point advantage before the Ulster side finished the half the stronger with points from Joe McDade and Declan McCusker sandwiching one from Kirwan.

Half – Time: Kildare 0-7 Fermanagh 0-6.

If the first half had been pedestrian and uninspiring, the opening 15 minutes of the second had echoes of that infamous 2008 encounter, with the sides only managing a point each. Fionán O’Brien levelled it with a 20m free after a three-up indiscretion by Kildare with Daniel Flynn restoring the advantage with a skyscraper that just dropped over the crossbar.

Kildare were dominating possession in this period but eight wides, including a goal chance blazed to the left of the post by Gill meant that when Fermanagh substitute Seán Cassidy pointed it brought the sides level on 51 minutes, few would have envisaged the Lilywhites winning by seven points.

That they did so owed much to the introduction of Clane’s Brian McLoughlin as a 43rd minute substitute for Ryan Sinkey. McLoughlin registered two quickfire points in the 54th and 55th minutes but it was his sweetly struck two-pointer on 59 minutes that finally gave Flanagan’s side a four-point gap.

That was almost whittled back down to the minimum, though, within a minute when Fermanagh broke down the left through Joe McDade and goalkeeper Cian Burke failed to make contact with his fist across goal. But Feely’s diligence in getting back paid dividends as he prevented Aogán Kelm from getting a proper connection and Brian Byrne, not for the first time this season, was on hand to fist the loose ball away off the line for a ’45, which McNally conveniently struck off the post.

With nine minutes left Josh Largo Elis got through for a goal chance but blazed over and Fermanagh should have narrowed the gap to two when O’Brien struck an upright from a close-range free.

At the other end McLoughlin brought his tally to 0-5 with his third white flag and when substitute Aaron Masterson sent in a sideline from under the Cusack Stand, with two minutes remaining, wing-back James McGrath was on hand to pick up the loose ball and crash home his third goal in successive games to seal the win.

McLoughlin’s match-winning performance will certainly put him in the frame for a starting berth in the final in three weeks’ time, though with Flanagan confirming Neil Flynn’s return to the panel after traveling, he will have some additional competition for that decider against Limerick.

KILDARE: Cian Burke; Harry O’Neill, Mark Dempsey, Brian Byrne; Kevin Flynn, David Hyland, James McGrath 1-0; Kevin Feely 0-2 (tp), Brendan Gibbons; Tommy Gill, Alex Beirne 0-1, Colm Dalton 0-2; Ryan Sinkey, Darragh Kirwan 0-1, Daniel Flynn 0-2. Subs: Jack McKevitt for K Flynn 43, Brian McLoughlin 0-5 (1 tp) for Sinkey 43, Niall Kelly for Kirwan 63, Aaron Masterson for Gibbons 65, Ryan Burke for McGrath 69.

FERMANAGH: Seán McNally; Luke Flanagan, Lee Cullen, Oisín Smyth; Shane McGullion, Declan McCusker 0-1, Jonathan Cassidy; Joe McDade 0-1, Darragh McGurn 0-1; Fionan O’Brien 0-1 (f), Ryan Lyons 0-1, Ronan McCaffrey; Josh Largo Elis 0-1, Garvan Jones, Conor Love 0-2. Subs: Seán Cassidy 0-1 for Jones HT, Conor McGee for McCaffrey 49, Aogan Kelm for McCusker 55, Jack Largo Elis for O’Brien 65, Che Cullen for McGullion 67.

REF: Kieran Eannetta (Tyrone).