Kildare minors hold on to win McGirr Cup final in dramatic style

Kildare 2-12

Meath 1-12

As they did in 2024, Kildare ended their Minor Football Championship campaign with a Paul McGirr Cup win. The Lilies produced a fine display in the decider to beat Meath in O’Connor Park.

It was The Royals who held possession in the opening moments, but it was Kildare who opened the scoring in the third minute when Calum Keaveny found the net.

It all seemed so easy for the Athy man who, after a quick one-two, side-footed his effort low into the Meath net leaving Charlie Finnegan motionless.

Rory Thompson added Kildare’s first point in the eighth minute when he won and converted a free-kick down the right hand side.

Meath, after initially being far too passive, responded well with frees of their own converted in the 10th and 11th minutes of this final through Seán Smith and Adam McEvoy.

The Lilies brought their lead back out to three points thanks to the undoubted star of the opening half Calum Keaveny. The Athy midfielder was again afforded too much space and coolly popped his effort between the posts.

Kildare went four clear at the midpoint of the first when Hugh Martin shimmied past his opposite number and fired over.

The leading side registered six wides and dropped two short in the opening half, but were consistently provided chances by brilliantly turning Meath over time and time again.

They scored plenty during that time too and went five clear when Keaveny grabbed his second point which was blocked but managed to struggle over the bar.

A potential turning point in the half was Meath’s only major sight of goal to that point, which came when Niall Lawless slipped through Seán Delaney. 

The St Peter’s Dunboyne forward fired at goal but his shot made it no further than a metre from the sender’s boot after being blocked by Charlie Doran who flung his body in the way.

Doran’s heroics would be capitalised on by Kildare who put daylight between them and The Royals in the minutes before half-time.

A gorgeous Hugh Martin two-pointer in the 28th minute made this game 1-6 to 0-3.

Less than a minute later Calum Keaveny grabbed his second goal of the first half. It was Martin who sent him on his way before Keaveny burst past his man and blasted the ball into the roof of the net off his left side.

Rathangan man Pauric Carty got the last score of the half as The Lilies went in at the break with a 2-7 to 0-3 lead.

Meath came out of the blocks with intensity after the restart but, unfortunately for them, not enough quality.

Charlie Gallagher’s free for the trailing side was followed by several wides and very little output for the amount of possession that Meath enjoyed during that spell.

Hugh Martin then restored Kildare’s 10-point advantage in the 37th minute. The Suncroft man then added his fifth point two minutes later.

Meath finally showed their teeth in the 40th minute when Seán Smith found the net. Stephen Cahill teed up his partner in the front line who punched the ball past the advancing Jamie Wall.

Kildare answered with a point from star midfielder Calum Keaveny, but Meath had risen their heads following the raising of a green flag.

A point from substitute CJ Lynch in the 46th minute made this game 2-10 to 1-5 in Kildare’s favour.

A three-point Meath burst with a Charlie Gallagher two-pointer and Stephen Cahill single then reduced the gap to five heading into the final 10 minutes.

The lead was far from unassailable and, after an Ollie Deller point at the other end, it was cut back to four following a 55-metre free from Charlie Gallagher which earned two points for his side.

Gallagher then set up a grandstand finish with yet another two-pointer after a Kildare 3v3 infringement in the 61st minute.

It was all so needlessly dramatic, but Kildare weathered the storm and Pauric Carty made it a three-point game in the 64th to put a cherry on the cake as Kildare finished as 2-12 to 1-12 the better and Paul McGirr Cup winners.

Kildare, Calum Keaveny 2-3, Hugh Martin 0-5 (one two-pointer), Pauric Carty 0-2, Rory Thompson 0-1 (0-1 frees), Ollie Deller 0-1.

Meath, Charlie Gallagher 0-7 (0-5 frees, three two-pointers), Seán Smith 1-0, Adam McEvoy 0-1 (0-1 frees), Seán Smith 0-1 (0-1 frees), Will Byrne 0-1, CJ Lynch 0-1, Stephen Cahill 0-1.

KILDARE: Jamie Wall; Daniel Sargent, Niall McAndrew, Senan Gallagher; Charlie Cullen, Aidan Maddock, Sean Gleeson; Calum Keaveny, Ollie Deller; Nathan Dunne, Hugh Martin, Mark Travers; Pauric Carty, Rory Thompson, Charlie Doran. Subs: Cillian Long or Nathan Dunne (56 minutes).

MEATH: Charlie Finnegan; Charlie O'Connor, Conall O'Sullivan, Glen Callaghan; Lewis Ryan, Eoghan McBrearty, Niall Lawless; Declan Byrne, Charlie Gallagher; Will Byrne, Cillian Murphy, Seán Delaney; Adam McEvoy, Seán Smith, Stephen Cahill. Subs: CJ Lynch for Adam McEvoy (37 minutes), Luke Casey for Lewis Ryan (39 minutes), Jeff Foley for Seán Delaney (48 minutes), Robert Johnson for Will Byrne (53 minutes), Nathan Reilly for Seán Smith (58 minutes).

Referee: Chris Maguire (Clare)

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