Kildare find their shooting boots to rack up record breaking points total
Kildare full back Mark Dempsey Photo: Sean Brilly
Kildare broke the 30 point barrier for the first ever time in a competitive game as they brushed aside the challenge of Leitrim at a sunny Cedral St Conleths Park.
Previous to this evening’s game, 27 points was the most that Kildare had amassed in a single game while in only one game in their history, in a League game against Kilkenny in 1990 when they scored four goals, did they manage a higher total than the 36 points recorded here.
At the heart of that total was Kildare finally finding the confidence and belief to land scores from two point range.
Yes, Leitrim were desperately limited opponents but a shot kicked from outside the two point line is from the same the distance no matter who the opponent is and Kildare clearly have the talent to do when they are in the mood.
And Alex Beirne certainly was in the mood today. On a perfect evening for football, the Naas man showed his quality in abundance with an exhibition of shooting from all sorts of distances as he racked up an incredible personal tally of 12 points with four two pointers along the way.
He wasn’t on his own though with Ryan Sinkey and Darragh Swords sharing 12 points evenly between them but perhaps the biggest cheer of the evening was for Jimmy Hyland’s brilliant two point effort after 43 minutes.
The injury jinxed Ballyteague man was making his first Championship start since 2022 and had scored one point in the first half but that one from distance put the icing on his cake and he lasted another ten minutes before making way with 53 solid minutes under his belt. Every Kildare supporter will be keeping their fingers crossed that luckless Hyland can finally get a run free of injuries as Kildare can be a different team with him in the forward line.
It wasn’t quite all plain sailing for Kildare in the first half. After a blistering start when Kildare led 0-6 to 0-1 after 14 minutes, Leitrim showed that they weren’t just in Newbridge to make up the numbers.
Barry McNulty kicked an excellent two point free kick and then when Keith Keegan scored in the 27th minute there was just two points between the teams, 0-7 to 0-5.
That, however, just woke Kildare from their slumber and they took off on a run of 11 points in the eight minutes of play, including a two point effort from Beirne.
McNulty and Keegan scored the last two points of the half but Kildare still led 0-16 to 0-7 at the break.
Leitrim could have fashioned a goal in the opening 30 seconds after the restart but the final pass to Keegan was just at the wrong height and he couldn’t the right connection.
After that, it was one way traffic with Kildare completely dominating the tie.
Their performance reach a crescendo seven minutes into the second period when the injury jinxed Jimmy Hyland, making his first Championship start since 2022, set up Beirne for a two point score and then brilliantly converted from similar range himself a minute later.
To their credit, Kildare never took their foot off their pedal and kept the scoreboard ticking over right up until the last kick of the game when goalkeeper Cian Burke converted a 45. Niall O'Sullivan even marked his senior debut with a point.
The only thing missing from the Kildare performance was a goal but after scoring 36 points there was few of a Lilywhite persuasion complaining.
Tipperary are the next opponents for Kildare in Clonmel next Saturday and another big win against the fourth seeds in the group will be expected but the tasks in the Tailteann Cup will increase quickly and the hope will be that Kildare can carry this new found confidence in front of the posts into those tougher tests.
A Beirne 0-12 (2tp, 2tpf, 3f), D Swords 0-6(1f) R Sinkey 0-6(1f), K Feely 0-3, J Hyland 0-3 (1tp),D Kirwan, M O’Grady, J McGrath, H O’Neill, N O’Sullivan, C Burke (1 '45) 0-1 each.
B McNulty 0-6 (2 tpf, 1f), T Prior 0-2, K Keegan 0-2, R O Rourke 0-1.
Cian Burke; Harry O'Neill, Mark Dempsey, Ryan Burke; Kevin Flynn, David Hyland, James McGrath; Kevin Feely, Mick O'Grady; Darragh Swords, Alex Beirne, Paddy McDermott; Ryan Sinkey, Darragh Kirwan, Jimmy Hyland. Subs: Rian Teahan for Kirwan, h/t; Brendan Gibbons for Feely, 44; Ryan Houlihan for J Hyland, 52; Niall O'Sullivan for K Flynn, 56-63 b/s), Daniel Flynn for Beirne, 59; Niall O'Sullivan for O'Neill, 66.
Daire O'Shea; Éanna McNamara, Donal Casey, Kieran Clancy; James Rooney, Mark Diffley, Jack Foley; Barry McNulty, Cillian McGloin; David Feeney, Keith Keegan, Tom Prior; Ben Guckian, Riordan O'Rourke, Darren Cox. Subs: Tom Hughes for McNamara, 47; Seán Harkin for David Feeney, 52; Ryan Bohan for Rooney, 63; Joe McGloin for O'Rourke, 65; Shane Finn for Clancy, 65.
Liam Devenney (Mayo)
