Late collapse sends Kildare minors out at the hands of Dublin

Electric Ireland Minor Football Championship Semi-Final

Dublin 2-10

Kildare 1-12

Dylan O’Dwyer put the home side two clear when the Kildare substitute knocked over a free with 10 minutes remaining. Much like they had in the first, Kildare had dominated large spells of the second half and the momentum was truly in their favour coming down the home stretch.

O’Dwyer’s first free was won by Austin Donegan who, as well as scoring a point of his own, created so much when entering the field with a little over 20 minutes to go. The Rathangan flyer nipped in and out of and away from Dublin challenges as he wreaked havoc on the visiting defence.

Hawkfield was abuzz with excitement as this vibrant Kildare side looked set to kick on, and they did, initially. Just two minutes later, Cian McKevitt would latch onto a scramble in the box to pop the ball over the bar for The Lilies.

Inside the same minute still and O’Dwyer had knocked over another free for Kildare’s third without reply. The two set-pieces would be followed by an outstanding point from play from the St Laurence’s man whose point put Kildare 1-11 to 0-9 ahead with just four minutes of regular time remaining.

The Dubs are never dead, but the feeling within the ground couldn’t have been much more optimistic as Kildare looked incomprehensibly dominant.

Dublin would spring up the field to get their first goal of the game when Killian Costello found Senan Bolger with a handpass across goal. Bolger rose alongside Finn Costello to slap into the net, but there was little debating on who got the final touches in the moment as Dublin now trailed just 1-11 to 1-9.

The Lilies proceeded to keep possession, all too close to goal for most of our liking and sure enough the dreaded image that every wounded Kildare fan had been imagining became reality. 

One stray handpass from Naas man Cian McKevitt and The Dubs were in again. The visitors punished in fine style as Shane Devane coolly finished past Conor McDonnell in the Kildare goal.

Kildare now trailed by one with a minute to go in a gut-wrenching collapse.

The Lilies again looked to Larries man Dylan O’Dwyer, who took aim from a long-range free. The distance was asking a lot of the young forward as his effort dropped short of the mark. The ball was gathered in a scrambling box by Paddy Ryan who did superbly to get his shot away under severe pressure to level this game at 2-9 to 1-12.

The Dubs would push again as they sought a winner in injury time. And they got one through St Jude’s man Hugh O’Neill. It was a sensational score from out wide, at far from the optimum angle and took tremendous bottle and quality from the young man to win this game.

Dylan O’Dwyer had a late free to level the game that was missed four minutes into injury-time, but it should have never have come to that for Kildare. 

There is little to be analysed or extrapolated from the result. A mistake, a miss, possession in the wrong area, all part of it and part of these young men’s journey and progression. This is the harshest of lessons for a Kildare team of tremendous quality, and they will be gutted with how this game turned out. 

As this reporter exited Manguard Park, a distinct Dublin tone could be heard saying “how the hell did we win that?” followed by a delighted chuckle.

“I don’t know…” I thought to myself as I muttered some expletives under my breath.

It had all gone so well, for so long, and been so impressive. But in the end, Kildare exited the Leinster Championship at the hands of Dublin.

Scorers: Dublin, Senan Bolger 1-2, Shane Devane 1-0, Donnach Magee 0-2 (0-1 frees), Rían Doherty 0-2 (0-2 frees), Josh Kennedy 0-1, Ryan Ennis 0-1, Cian Gavin 0-1, Hugh O'Neill 0-1.

Kildare, Ronan Kelly 1-0, Paddy Ryan 0-3, Dylan O'Dwyer 0-3 (0-2 frees), Cian McKevitt 0-2, Harry Donnelly 0-1 (0-1 frees), Liam Kenny 0-1, Luke Murray 0-1, Austin Donegan 0-1.

DUBLIN: Finn McDonnell; Eoghan O'Donovan, Dara O'Sullivan, Jack O'Keefe; Josh Kennedy, Finn McGinnis, Ryan Ennis; Cian Gavin, Killian Costello; Danny McGill, Donach Magee, Senan Bolger; Charlie Loughran, Fintan Lydon, Rían Doherty. Subs: Hugh O'Neill for Fintan Lydon (39 minutes), Finn Costello for Eoghan O'Donovan (41 minutes), Shane Devane for Cian Gavin (50 minutes), Cillian McCabe for Charlie Loughran (50 minutes).

KILDARE: Conor McDonnell; Rian Beagan, Liam McDonald, Cian Cahill; Paddy Ryan, Finn Dowling, Liam Kenny; Evan Boyle, Ruaidhri Lawlor; Cian McKevitt, Ronan Kelly, Brian Caffrey; Luke Murray, Harry Donnelly, Tadhg Donlon. Subs: Austin Donegan for Harry Donnelly (37 minutes), Dylan O'Dwyer for Evan Boyle (45 minutes), Senan Gallagher for Rian Began (50 minutes), Mick O'Toole for Tadhg Donlon (59 minutes), Ollie Deller for Liam Kenny (61 minutes).

Referee: James Foley (Carlow)