Kildare GAA General Discussion Thread

The Bord Na Mona O’Byrne Cup Round 3
Kildare edge out Wexford in thrilling finish
Kildare 1-13 Wexford 1-11
Scorers
KILDARE: Johnny Doyle (three frees) 0-7, Morgan O’Flaherty 1-0, Mikey Conway (two frees, one 45’) 0-3, Cathal McNally 0-2, Emmet Bolton 0-1
WEXFORD: Shane Roche (three frees) 1-4, Redmond Barry (three frees) 0-3, PJ Banville, Kevin Gore, Anthony Masterson (45’) and Craig Doyle 0-1 each
The hardy souls who braved the January chill in St Conleths were served up an exhilarating second halfs football culminating in Morgan O’Flaherty slotting coolly beyond Anthony Masterson in the Wexford goal to secure the win three minutes into injury time. The goal came following an exquisite James Eaton crossfield pass but it was an incredible response to a resounding Wexford comeback which saw them coming from seven points down 19 minutes into the half. They patiently reeled in the home side and when ace corner forward Shane Roche latched onto a ball destined to go dead and fired in beyond a despairing Shane Connolly with 37 minutes on the clock the game looked up for the Lilies. Instead they remained calm and when, what turned out the last attack, looked gone, Eaton’s vision gifted the match winning score for O’Flaherty. The resultant kickout was unsportingly delayed and Wexford’s frustrations boiled over into a ruck that ended in Emmett Bolton and Graeme Molloy of Wexford receiving second yellows.
The opening period in comparison was a dull error ridden affair in which Johnny Doyle was the shining light in the scoring stakes kicking four of Kildare’s five points in that period. He opened the scoring from play inside a minute with Wexford responding with two through PJ Banville and a Shane Roche free. The indomitable JD and Cathal McNally following some good link play restored the single point advantage. Kevin Gore and an Anthony Masterson 45’ came either side of a pair of John Doyle points to leave the half time score at 0-5 to 0-4 in favour of the Lilies and the crowd hoping for something a bit more entertaining in the second period.
Those self-same supporters were well rewarded as the home side fired six unanswered points inside the first ten minutes of the half playing some delightful football. Two superbly struck Mikey Conway frees from 40 yards plus either side of a fisted Bolton point came within three minutes of the restart. The industrious Cathal McNally landed a great point 40 yards from the posts sandwiched between two Doyle points to give the Lilies a healthy seven point advantage. Wexford didn’t panic and it seemed that their every foray forward was rewarded with a score/ scorable free which they gratefully accepted. Roche and Johnny Doyle swapped points on 19 minutes but the Lilies were now under the kosh from a yellow belly onslaught. Sub Redmond Barry pointed a brace from placed balls with a converted Conway 45’ keeping six points between the sides. Midfielder Craig Doyle bounded forward for a point followed by Barry and a Roche brace to reduce arrears to two points into injury time. And then came the drama of the two goals inside two minutes of injury time that left a relieved Kildare top of the group and headed to Tullamore for a semi-final next weekend.
KILDARE: Shane Connolly; Eoin Doyle, Mick Foley, Hugh McGrillen; Emmet Bolton, Mikey Conway, Peter Kelly; Gary White, Hugh Lynch; Brian Flanagan, Cathal McNally, Morgan O’Flaherty; Paddy Brophy, Johnny Doyle, Daniel Flynn
Subs: Michael Konstantin and Padraig O’Neill for Kelly and Lynch (half time), Padraig Fogarty and James Eaton for Brophy and Flynn (53 mins), Eoin O’Flaherty for McNally (59 mins)
WEXFORD: Anthony Masterson; Joey Wadding, Graeme Molloy, Sean Culleton; Andreas Doyle, David Murphy, Brian Malone; Daithi Waters, Craig Doyle; Conor Carty, Paddy Byrne, Kevin Gore; Shane Roche, Killian Kehoe, PJ Banville
Subs: Redmond Barry (HT), Andrew Shore (49 mins), Johnny Leacy (54 mins), Rory Quinnlivan (71 mins)
Referee: Maurice Deegan (Laois)
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It's a bit premature calling Johnston a great player after kicking 3 points against Offaly in the middle of January.

And there goes Conway, isn't he the captain? Gob****e. He's after putting his 14 team mates under serious pressure now.

Penalty for Offaly

Well done Kildare. Made hard work of that.

keane2097 wrote: »

Only if you think his career started when he joined Kildare

So your saying he was a great player when he was with Cavan? A very good player by Cavan's standards but by no means great. He had a stormer yesterday, particularly in the second half but lets not fool ourselves it's the O'Byrne Cup in January. If he can repeat that form in the league and championship then we can start thinking about calling him a great player.

His commitment is not in question that's for sure, for both club and county. He single handedly kept St.Kevin's in the senior championship.

I don't know who it is but I heard they are based in Naas but also operate throughout the country. Tesco maybe?

full_irish wrote: »

Ah is it? I found it over on the kildaregaa.board earlier this morning.

Any word on what the deal is worth?

No I heard nothing about money yet, just heard it's a 3 year deal.

keane2097 wrote: »

How many times did you see him play for Cavan?

10 times, give or take.