Minor footballers to go the long route in Leinster Championship after defeat to Louth
Eoghan Lyons on the attack before he is brought down for a penalty by Louth goalkeeper Aaron O'Donoghue Photo: James Lawlor
Kildare minor footballers allowed a five-point lead, and with it a direct passage to the semi-finals, slip as they were overhauled by a determined Louth in the last ten minutes of this final round group game in the Electric Ireland Leinster Championship at Manguard Park.
With both sides through to the knockout stages and this game just determining whether they would have to contest a quarter-final, it was a sluggish affair during the first half, with Kildare going in 1-3 to 0-3 ahead thanks to an Eoghan Lyons penalty and a dismal collection of nine wides from their visitors.
But after the break, ironically despite worsening conditions due to rain, the quality of the game improved and it looked as if Tommy Konstantin’s charges had finally put paid to any Louth comeback hopes when Castledermot’s Greg Kelly shot two excellent two-pointers to help the home side into a 1-11 to 0-9 advantage with eleven minutes remaining.
Louth, though, had looked the stronger side around the midfield area, and they finally made that possession count in outscoring their hosts 1-5 to no score in the remainder of normal time, the goal a superb effort from their star man, centre-forward Connell Kelly, that gave them the lead for the first time in the game with five minutes remaining.
Kildare did hit back with a Lyons free two minutes into injury-time, but the Lilywhites then agonisingly failed to claim the win when corner back Eoin Markey was agonisingly unable to get his fingertips to Aodhán Bergin’s pass across goal, the ball trickling wide in the dying embers of time added on.
Louth’s poor shooting was the key feature of a pedestrian first half. The Wee County had shot six astray (that statistic climbed to nine by half-time) before finally finding the range through Rian McDonnell in the 17th minute. By then Kildare had two points on the board from Kill’s Jack Reilly, one from a free and one from play.
The home side had also squandered two goal chances just before Louth broke their duck. Firstly, Logan Tennyson overhit his pass to Reilly who was swallowed up by goalkeeper Aaron O’Donoghue and immediately afterwards Joseph Lynch saved on the line from Tennyson.
Tennyson tried ambitiously for a goal on 22 minutes, his low drive from an acute angle forcing O’Donoghue to tip over for a point. That scare triggered a Louth burst and points from Pauric Maguire and Lynch brought the sides level at 0-3 apiece.
Kildare got the noses in front when, four minutes before the interval, Kelly’s incisive ball to Lyons tempted O’Donoghue out of goal and the goalie brought the Kildare man down inside the area.
That earned O’Donoghue a black card, with Jakub Perkowski coming on to face a penalty, but he could nothing to prevent Lyons confident finish down to the ‘keeper’s left. That sent Kildare, perhaps a little fortuitously, in three points (1-3 to 0-3) ahead at the break.
They didn’t take advantage of the extra man, with the sides adding three points apiece at the start of the second half before O’Donoghue returned. Rian McDonnell and Connell Kelly points for Louth sandwiched the first of Greg Kelly’s orange flags before Reilly and Lynch exchanged points.
After Connell Kelly pulled one back, Kildare had a trio of points in two minutes, through Lyons, Kelly and Reilly, all from play to give them a five-point advantage before Louth’s Kelly hit back with two more of his own.
However, when Greg Kelly landed an audacious two-pointer despite being fouled with eleven minutes left, Kildare looked likely to make it three wins for three.
That didn’t account for a determined rally from Louth, or for Connell Kelly’s brilliance. He pointed from play and then from a free before Rian McDonnell made it 1-11 to 0-12 and from the kickout, Louth batted the ball down at midfield for Kelly to run on to and he smashed an unstoppable shot just under the crossbar to put the Wee County ahead with five minutes left.
Cillian Duff and wing back Conor Marron added points to leave Kildare three adrift but with Kelly short from a two-point attempt, all they could muster was Lyons’ free before failing to find the net from that late, late run from Bergin.
Kildare will now play one of the preliminary quarter-final winners in two weeks’ time with Louth through to the last four.
Aaron O’Donoghue; Matthew Kierans, Killian McDonnell, Oliver Walsh; Finn McEneaney, Mark Smith, Conor Marron 0-1; Pauric Maguire 0-1, Tadhg McDonnell; Anthony Traynor, Connell Kelly 1-6 (0-2fs), Joseph Lynch 0-2; Brian O’Neill, Cillian Duff 0-1, Rian McDonnell 0-3. Subs: Jakub Perkowski for K McDonnell (black card) 27-35, Cian Cunningham for Traynor 45, Tadhg Rooney for K McDonnell 48, Ronan Duggan for T McDonnell 60.
Joe Crotty (St Kevin’s); Eoin Markey (Kill), Ryan Crawford (Kilcock), Cathal Harris (Raheens); Fionn Lawlor (St Laurence’s), Oisín McAffee (Raheens), Liam Mescal (Eadestown); Charlie Doran (Clane), Páidí Ryan (Round Towers); Jamie Flood (Maynooth), Luke Shanahan (Sallins), Eoghan Lyons (Clane) 1-2 (1-0 pen,0-1f); Jack Reilly (Kill) 0-4 (2fs), Greg Kelly (Castledermot) 0-5 (2tps), Logan Tennyson (St Kevin’s) 0-1. Subs: Aidan Tobin (Allenwood) for Tennyson 38, Harry Feely (Naas) for McAffee 38, Aodhán Bergin (Grange) for Flood 40, Gearóid Clare (Moorefield) for Lawlor 56, Dylan Daniels (Carbury) for Reilly 57.
Andrew Smith (Meath).
