Derry end Kildare's unbeaten start to the Division 2 after chaotic affair
Alex Beirne pleads his innocence as he's shown a red card by referee David Gough Photo: James Lawlor
Kildare suffered their first defeat in Division 2 of the National Football League after a chaotic but entertaining encounter with a resurgent Derry at a wintry Cedral St Conleth’s Park.
Brian Flanagan’s youthful side seemed set to add two more points to the three gleaned from Tyrone and Offaly when they led by 1-11 to 1-6 a minute into the second half having won the toss and elected to face the wind before the break.
But two quickfire goals from Derry turned the game on its head and the Oak Leafers showed all their experience in seeing the game out to the finish, despite Kildare getting back to within a point with twelve minutes remaining. But Derry shot the last two points to make it two wins on the trot as they eye up an immediate return to Division 1.
It was a game that had just about everything and kept a big crowd, boosted by a large travelling contingent on the edge of their seats.
In driving rain, sleet and even snow at times, not to mention the wind, it was a bizarre match at times. Both teams played better against the wind, we had two red cards and two black ones, a goal from the top drawer by Paul Cassidy for Derry and one from the Tales of the Unexpected from Brian McLoughlin for the home side. And scarcely a moment to draw breath.
Derry had a significant edge in experience but almost self-imploded through ill-discipline in the opening half, with Conor Glass red-carded after only six minutes and Niall Loughlin and Conor Doherty later heading to the sin-bin on black cards.
There was little love lost between the sides in that opening period - so much for Valentine’s night - with Kildare’s Alex Beirne crucially seeing red as well in the incident that saw Doherty sent to the line.
Derry had opened smartly with that wind advantage into the town end and a two-pointer from wing back Doherty saw them three ahead inside ninety seconds.
With McLoughlin and Ben Loakman leading the way Kildare settled well, helped by the numerical advantage granted to them by Glass’s red card for a needless off-the-ball foul on Callum Bolton.
Kildare led 0-4 to 0-3 by the eleventh minute but Derry re-asserted themselves with a two-point free and well-finished goal from McGuigan on fifteen minutes.
Derry went down to thirteen when Loughlin was black-carded and Doherty joined him before half-time with Kildare losing Beirne to a straight red in the second incident. Kildare will look at the video of that before deciding whether an appeal is appropriate. Otherwise Beirne will be a big loss for the trip to Cavan next week.
With Derry not scoring again between McGuigan’s goal and half-time, Kildare added 1-6 without reply, the goal coming from a 25-metre free from McLoughlin which dipped to everyone’s surprise, presumably the Clane man included, over Shea McGuckin in the Derry goal while the outstanding Sarsfields corner forward Loakman moved onto four points from play before the break.
But with the sides back to numerical parity at the start of the second half, and although Loakman’s free stretched the lead to five immediately after the restart, Derry hit Kildare with two goals in a minute to kickstart the revival.
The first was worth the admission price alone if you were a neutral or from Derry, but Kildare will question how wing forward Cassidy was able to run through the heart of the defence from midfield before unleashing the mother of all “worldies” into the top left corner of Cian Burke’s net.
Derry turned over the Kildare kick out and from the next attack Matthew Downey set up Murray to palm home and put Derry one point ahead against a shell-shocked home team. Derry, seemingly able to penetrate Kildare’s defence at will now, popped over five points in a six-minute spell from the 41st to 47th minute but Loakman was offering resistance at the other end. After Bolton put some wayward first-half shooting behind him with a point, his clubmate lashed over two outstanding two-pointers to bring the gap down to the minimum (1-16 to 3-11).
Kildare might have had a goal immediately afterwards, but substitute Jack McKevitt’s pass was just a little too far in front of Harry O’Neill. It’s not in his nature to pull out of a challenge and he crashed a little late into McGuckin but with Derry mentors baying for blood, referee David Gough sensibly took no further action other than to award the free out.
McGuigan and Doherty stretched the lead to three again with Kildare bringing in Darragh Kirwan and Neil Flynn into the attack for the first appearances of the season, but the eager Kirwan in particular was understandably rusty and shot two wides, with another effort blocked.
Loakman’s free brought his tally to ten and Flynn found the range with a point from the right, but Kildare failed to score in the remaining twelve minutes as Derry saw the game out with points from McGuigan and Murray, while Cassidy was denied a second goal by a Ryan Burke goal line clearance.
KILDARE: Cian Burke; Harry O’Neill, Pádraic Spillane, Ryan Burke; James Harris, Eoin Lawlor, Brian Byrne; Kevin Feely, Brendan Gibbons; Brian McLoughlin 1-2 (1-0f), Callum Bolton 0-1, Colm Moran 0-1; Ben Loakman 0-10 (2 tps,2fs), Alex Beirne 0-1, Eoin Cully 0-2. Subs: Darragh Kirwan for Moran 42, Jack McKevitt for Harris 47, Sam Doran for Feely 53, Neil Flynn 0-1 for McLoughlin 57, James McGrath for O’Neill 66.
DERRY: Shea McGuckin 0-1 (’45); Diarmuid Baker, Ruairí Forbes, Seán Young; Conor Doherty 0-3 (1tp), Gareth McKinless, Pádraig McGrogan; Conor Glass, Brendan Rogers; Ethan Doherty, Shea Downey, Paul Cassidy 1-0; Niall Loughlin 0-2 (1f), Shane McGuigan 1-5 (1tpf,1f), Lachlan Murray 1-3. Subs: Matthew Downey 0-1 for Young (h-t), Niall Toner for S Downey 53, Conor McAteer for Loughlin 66.
REFEREE: David Gough (Meath).
