Kildare sucked back into relegation dogfight after dismal display in Cavan
The Kildare management team made their way to the dressing room at half time
Think of the elements of the worst performances you’ve seen from a Kildare team and this, sadly, will have had most of them.
Forget about a bad day at the office, this was one where Brian Flanagan’s men couldn’t even make it to the box room to log on from home. They saw the rain, pulled the duvet over their heads and said no thanks.
To be fair, it has thankfully been rare for Kildare to play so badly in Flanagan’s year and a bit in charge, and he was as flummoxed as everyone else by it afterwards, but it has catapulted them into the jeopardy of a relegation battle that on this evidence they may not be sufficiently equipped to win.
Excuses can be made, though the manager was loathe to make them. To have Alex Beirne suspended was bad enough, the apparent unfairness of that red card against Derry continuing to rankle, but to then lose Kevin Feely to a hamstring strain left Kildare short on skill, heft and experience.
The weather, the pudding-like pitch, and the referee can all be put forward as contributing factors, but those were largely issues for both sides.
The wind couldn’t make its mind whether it was coming or going, with both teams dropping balls short so often the goalkeepers were in danger of repetitive strain injuries fetching them from the sky, while referee Barry Judge was similarly schizophrenic.
It is rare for an official to manage to infuriate both sets of supporters in almost equal measure but the man from Sligo did just that.
From a Kildare perspective the failure to award a free in front of the posts to Eoin Lawlor when he was clearly fouled from behind was bad enough, but worse was to come in the 51st minute when, with only a point between the teams, an off-the-ball incident that left Pádraic Spillane needing attention on the ground caused Judge to halt play with Derry in possession around the 45 metre line.
Judge proceeded to give Brian Byrne a yellow card for the “Spillane” incident. Presumably, as one media colleague suggested, Byrne hit his own player a belt! If that wasn’t bad enough, Cavan were allowed to resume by taking a two-point free, when whatever foul occurred had surely happened close to goal.
You can’t bring a free outside the arc in that event and even the taker Paddy Lynch seemed unconvinced about going for it, though with encouragement from Judge he landed it to make it 0-12 to 0-9.
Five minutes later Cavan had stretched two points further ahead as a bad afternoon went from bad to worse for Kildare, but we thought we might have a lifeline through an abandonment when the clock/hooter/scoreboard technology gave up the ghost.
Suggestions that the locals had played to type by not paying the electric bill could not be confirmed though it did come back after a few minutes delay.
The first half, played in heavy rain, had been the sort of abomination that even Jim Gavin couldn’t rescue. Cavan had the wind, we think, but managed to drop six short and hit four wides for a 24% conversion rate that hinted at why they came into this on the back of three defeats.
Were a heavy-legged Kildare any better? Statistically at least, yes, with five wides and two dropped short contributing to a 42% conversion, but the unforced errors were never far away, whether it was misplaced passes, balls dropped, attempts to hop the ball to a non-responsive surface etc etc.
The sides reached half-time at 0-5 apiece, Kildare’s best effort coming from Callum Bolton and Lynch landing a two-pointer from play for Cavan.
Surely the second half could only get better. Well at least the sun came out. The wind had seen enough and headed off down the N3.
Kildare came out of the dressing room with renewed vigour and a point from James Harris and a two-pointer from Ben Loakman, his first score of the game after a ten-point haul the week before, saw them looking a lot prettier at 0-8 to 0-5.
It was a false dawn though. Lynch raised an orange flag from a free, the ever unmarked wing back Oisín Brady put a couple of bad first half misses behind him with a single and although Colm Moran neatly struck his second of the game, Cavan took advantage of midfield dominance, helped by the arrival of veteran Gearoid McKiernan just before half-time. The Breffni men scored 0-6 without reply to take a firm grip, including that controversial Lynch two-pointer.
Thanks to three points in a row from the determined Loakman, Kildare clawed the lead back to three points coming down the home stretch (0-15 to 0-12) and when Harris curled over his second of the game there was hope of a dramatic rescue act.
But the unforced errors continued and when possession was turned over for the umpteenth time Spillane felt it necessary to drag his opposite number Paddy Meade to the ground and he was black-carded with a minute left.
Cavan worked it into the corner and won a free with the hooter imminent and Lynch rounded off his nine-point haul with the conversion to the delight of the raucous home support.
After a bright start to the campaign, Flanagan and his management team have a big weak ahead of them with a powerful-looking Meath outfit coming to Cedral St Conleth’s Park on Saturday night and leaders Cork and a revitalised Louth, winners over Tyrone, to follow.
Liam Brady; Jason McLoughlin, Paddy Meade, Brian O’Connell; Oisín Brady 0-2, Niall Carolan, Gerard Smith 0-1; Eoin Clarke, Conor Brady; Ciaran Brady (Arva), Tiarnan Madden 0-1 (f), Peter Corrigan, Cian Shekleton, Parick Lynch 0-9 (2tps,2tpfs,2fs), Dara McVeety 0-2. Subs: Gearóid McKiernan 0-1 for Carolan 34, Ryan Brady for Shekleton 51, Caoimhin McGovern for Madden 56.
Cian Burke; Harry O’Neill, Pádraic Spillane, Brian Byrne; James Harris 0-2, Eoin Lawlor, James McGrath; Callum Bolton 0-1, Brendan Gibbons; Brian McLoughlin 0-1, Darragh Swords, Colm Moran 0-2; Ben Loakman 0-5 (1tpf), Darragh Kirwan 0-2, Eoin Cully. Subs: Tommy Gill for Swords HT, Neil Flynn for Cully 45, Jack McKevitt for Moran 56, Sam Doran for McGrath 62.
Barry Judge (Sligo).
