Defying form, tradtion and Kerry's record of producing two of the last three national champions, Kildare's finest can consider themselves extremely unlucky to end up as the bridesmaids of the most enthralling club football seen in recent years in Lim
erick's Gaelic Grounds.
It took goal three minutes from time to dissolve the dream. Up to that Maynoooth they had looked the more likely side to advance as they dominated midfield, soaked up everything that Spa could throw at them and faced into the closing minutes with assuredness of a side that knows its worth.
Even more to the point, they had picked themselves up from a nervous start when they struggled to cope with Kerrymen's pace on the ball and gave them the sort of reply that only Tyrone teams seem capable of inflicting on the Kingdom.
For most of the hour, they were led by thunderous performances from Alan McAndrew at the back, Michael Bennett in midfield and Karl and Pierre Ennis up front but, if they're to look back on the game, they'll realise that this was a real team effort. Despite not always making the best use of possession, they were able to respond twice to keep Spa at bay after sustained periods of pressure. The pity was that they just didn't have the time to answer the Munstermen's final revival.
In the end, they were undone by the magic of Niall O'Mahony and Michael O'Donoghue in the centre of the Spa attack, both of whom were called up the week before by Jack O'Connor for their first taste of senior inter-county duty.
As long as they could keep the ball away from them, Maynooth had enough quality spread over the pitch to keep control but, when the heavy conditions finally took their toll on brave legs, the speed and the vision of the Kerry pair as well as the poaching of two-goal Conor Gleeson brought their side back from the brink.
Although Maynooth had the first attack, Spa took the lead from the clearing free when O'Donoghue pointed off O'Mahony's lay-off.
The Kerry side built on their advantage to add another pair of scores from raiding corner-back Fergus Clifford and O'Mahony but they had a real let-off when Pierre Ennis blazed in on goal only for his bullet to graze the wrong side of the upright.
The Leinster champions finally got off the mark through Karl Ennis but that was negated by a huge O'Mahony strike from the sideline and the countyman's second score was met by Eoin Cronin.
Matters changed when midfield opened up and Maynooth used the space to spray the ball to their inside forwards. After Pierre Ennis sent over a free, Niall Naughton lobbed one over with the aid of the crossbar and, from the resulting kickout, Hugh Purcell equalised from an impossible angle out on the left. The game then turned on its head when Karl Ennis collected Naughton's break to bulge the corner of James Devane's net.
Had they bounced off the momentum, they could have added another point or two before the Munstermen regrouped by reorganising their defence and bringing O'Donoghue out to counter Bennett's dominance in the middle.
A breakway attack saw Gleeson break the run of Kildare's scores and, as halftime approached, a flamboyant 70 yard solo run by O'Mahoney brought the margin back to the minimum of 1-5 to 0-7.
Despite enjoying most of the possession on the restart, Maynooth earlier crispness deserted them and, when Pierre Ennis found the target after three wides, they were immediately rocked back on their heels when Gleeson finished a flourish of handpasses to drill the ball past Paul Flood.
It looked like the reassertion of tradition when O'Mahony added another spectacular score but the Kildaremen still held the upper hand when it came to primary possession. Sustained pressure led to Bennett striking from a raid in from the right and Pierre
Ennis equalising with a '45' and it got its reward when the Spa defence fumbled the break from a throw-in and McAndrew flykicked to the net.
However, Spa refused to lie down and, as the Maynooth midfield began to tire, their forwards finally enjoyed sustained sight of the ball.
Points from O'Donoghue and Tomás Lynch brought back within touching distance but the gap was as elusive as ever when Karl Ennis overlapped on the left to keep two scores between the sides.
Maynooth looked as if they might just see out the endgame when a handpass move ended up again with Gleeson and the wing-forward found the corner of the net.
A long O'Donoghue point tightened the screw and, despite their last gasp attempts at redemption, there just wasn't enough gas left in the Maynooth tank when Declan Corcoran blew full-time.
Spa:
James Devane; Brian Gleeson, Aidan Cahill, Fergus Clifford (0-1); Damien O'Sullivan, Hugh O'Donoghue, Eoin Cronin (0-1); Kevin Healy, Pa Murphy; Conor Gleeson (2-1), Niall O'Mahony (0-4), Cian Tobin; Cormac Cronin, Michael O'Donoghue (0-3), Tomás Lynch (0-1). Subs: Andrew Garnett for Cormac Cronin, Paul Russell for Pa Murphy.
Maynooth:
Paul Flood; Joe Brennan, Colin O'Neill, Adam Gunn; Seán Kennedy, Alan McAndrew (1-0), Kevin Comerford; Michael Bennett (0-1), Hugh Purcell (0-1); Karl Ennis (1-3), Cillian Carr, Conor Canning; Vincent Hanrahan, Pierre Ennis (0-3, 1f, 1'45'), Niall Naughton (0-1). Subs: John McAndrew for Vincent Hanrahan, Michael Fahey for Niall Naughton, John Comerford for Hugh Purcell, Peter Warren for Colin O'Neill.
Referee:
Declan Corcoran (Mayo).
