Place in the quarter-finals at stake when Kildare take on Sligo

TAILTEANN CUP GROUP 1 ROUND 3 

KILDARE v SLIGO 

Sunday 1 June 

King & Moffatt Dr Hyde Park, Roscommon, 2pm

A familiar foe awaits Brian Flanagan in the Hyde on Sunday as he renews acquaintances with a county his under-20s did battle with in the All Ireland Semi Final of 2022 and the Final the following year.

Flanagan’s teams came out on top on both occasions and also beat the Yeats County in the Allianz League this spring, albeit only with a late burst to ward off a Sligo comeback. Those results give plenty of cause for optimism, but Kildare would do well to be wary of a team that have given us plenty of problems over the years.

Indeed, the sides have met four times in Championship football and Kildare have only won on one occasion, coincidentally the one time they have met in the Roscommon venue, a facile 0-13 to 0-4 win in a Qualifier under Kieran McGeeney in 2012.

Older supporters will have nightmares about the two previous Qualifier clashes.

Mick O’Dwyer was in his penultimate year with the county in 2001 when Kildare faced the Yeats men in Croke Park.

Sligo hadn’t been to Croke Park since Arthur Ashe was winning Wimbledon 26 years previously but, kitted out in the all-black change gear they would decide to stick with, and with corner back Neil Carew sent off after just eight minutes, they got to half-time just a point behind (9-8) but O’Dwyer’s men seemed to move into control at 13-10.

But Eamonn O’Hara’s driving runs from deep inspired a remarkable comeback with Sligo scoring six points in a row and late scores from Johnny Doyle and Eddie McCormack were not enough to avoid the disaster that was unfolding.

Fast forward four years and under Ben Bulben’s watchful eye, a dull encounter saw Kildare again open up a lead (7-4 at half time), stretched it to five with an opportunistic Doyle goal but after a couple of Dessie Sloyan points, John McPartland found the net and Mark Breheny kicked the winner. A late Doyle curler almost rescued the draw, but it tailed wide to mark the end of the Pádraig Nolan era.

So, 2012’s Hyde win gave Kildare a measure of revenge but when the sides met in Countess Markiewicz’s field in the Group stages of the All Ireland series under Glenn Ryan two years ago. You might notice a trend here; Kildare established a winning position with a three point lead with three minutes left but with Kevin O’Callaghan black-carded and Darragh Kirwan off on a second yellow, and over seven minutes of stoppage time played, two Niall Murphy boomers preceded an equaliser from David Quinn.

While Sligo will be more familiar with the venue, Kildare’s record in the Hyde is surprisingly good after an inauspicious start. They first visited the venue in 1969, and Jack Donnelly was the only Lilywhite scorer as they went down by 1-11 to 1-1. The second visit was even worse when, in 1980 and with a teenage Larry Tompkins on board, they only managed eight points, conceding 3-14.

But there have been four wins in a row in the 45 years since with two League wins over the Rossies in ’88 and ’98 followed by a three-point qualifier success over the home county in 2007 (Doyle notching 1-8). Our most recent visit was that qualifier against Sunday’s opponents thirteen years ago.

Flanagan has rotated his playing resources admirably in the comfortable wins over Leitrim and Tipperary and with qualification for the knockout stages secured, but the benefit of going straight to the quarter finals awaiting the winners, one would expect Flanagan to pick his strongest available fifteen for this one, particularly given the better quality opposition.

Kildare will be favourites. Sligo pushed Mayo close in the Connacht Championship but had narrower margins against the group’s also-rans than Kildare did. History suggests that will count for nothing though and Flanagan and crew need to be on their guard.