Kildare step up at vital stage to beat Leitrim

Tailteann Cup Round 3

Kildare 1-16

Leitrim 0-12

In the end there was seven points separating Kildare and Leitrim in Saturday's Round 3 Group 1 game at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park in Longford and while most would have expected a bigger margin of victory all things considered a seven point win is not something to be scoffed at.

Kildare looked well in control, if not totally convincing, when leading by six at the break (1-8 to 0-5) the goal coming from Niall Kelly, and while they certainly came under pressure from a Leitrim team who will be operating in Kildare's division in the league come 2025, when it was needed The Lilies stepped it up with some fine individual points to pull away in the end.

And it was centre forward Darragh Kirwan who really stepped up, grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck, showing all his skill and finesse with some brilliantly taken points, seven in total, adding to his top class displays in all three of the Tailteann Cup games to date.

It is fair to say the Naas man is playing to the very top of his game at the minute having clocked up a total of no less than 17 points (all from play) in the three games.

Niall Kelly and Kirwan opened for The Lilies before the impressive Tom Prior opened Leitrim's account on nine.

Kildare were pushing up on the Leitrim kick-outs and while they never really dominated the midfield area they nevertheless picked up a fair bit of ball around that area, especially in the opening half.

Leitrim, on one of their dangerous break-away attacks that we saw on a few occasions, capitalising when turning Kildare over and then attacking at pace and with a lot of players in white in the top half of the pitch the boys in green and gold could have got more out of some of those situations.

One in particular saw Tom Prior find Jack Foley and he got in on goal only to be denied by Mark Donnellan.
Two excellent left-footed efforts from Darragh Kirwan pushed the lead out to 0-5 to 0-2, Mark Plunkett having got Leitrim's second point.

Brian Byrne, who had a fine game at no. 6, found Mick O'Grady who was fouled and Kevin Feeley knocked over his only score of the game.

Darragh Rooney reduced the lead as Leitrim continued to cause problems on the counter-attack and once again a long ball over the top saw Shane Farrell the only player back, he was forced to foul (yellow card) and Rooney reduced the deficit to two on 27 minutes.

Paddy McDermott fired over a lovely point; Tom Prior replied before an excellent move involving Kevin Feely, Niall Kelly and Paddy Woodgate ended with Kelly finding the net to make it 1-7 to 0-5 on29 minutes.

Paddy Woodgate converted a free before Kildare looked to be in again but a foul pass saw the chance go abegging as we reached the half-time mark, Kildare leading 1-8 to 0-5.

Six clear but Leitrim would have the benefit of the breeze on the resumption and they certainly used that to their advantage.
Kildare had an early attack with Kevin Feely giving a lovely quick-slick pass to Alex Beirne (half-time substitute) only for the Naas man's efforts to blast off the upright and cleared.

Mark Plunkett and Jack Sargent exchanged points before Niall Kelly exquisite kick pass was held up in the breeze and the danger disappeared.

Paddy Woodgate (free) hit a free right and wide before Barry McNulty (free) and Mark Plunkett had the deficit back to four on 42 minutes.

Leitrim were certainly giving it their all; were doing very well around the middle at this stage and Kildare were under some pressure.

Corner back, Aidan Flynn reduced the game; Paddy Woodgate replied with a free but when Cathal McHugh split the posts the lead was back to three on 49 minutes.

Kevin Feely, Aaron Masterson and Paddy Woodgate hit three wides in three minutes and when Darragh Rooney split the posts the lead was back to two (1-10 to 0-11) with 53 minutes on the clock.

Kildare needed something to ease the growing pressure and indeed anxiety.

Cometh the time, cometh the man and up stepped Darragh Kirwan.

After a great move involving Brian Byrne, Paddy McDermott, Barry Kelly (who made a fine contribution when introduced) and Darragh Kirwan ended with the Naas man firing over.

Two more points from the big man eased the pressure as Kildare pressed forward adding points from Paddy Woodgate, a converted free after Alex Beirne was fouled; a second point from Paddy McDermott and Kildare's final point of the game, very appropriately from man of the match Darragh Kirwan pushed the lead out to eight and while Leitrim added a point from Ryan O'Rourke, it was not enough as the final whistle arrived Kildare chalking up win no. 3 in the Tailteann Cup on a final score line of Kildare 1-16 Leitrim 0-12.

Three wins from three games, a total of 9-56 scored is impressive, regardless of the opposition; one goal conceded in those three games along with 19 points is more then decent.

Overall, while a lot of improvement is still required, all things considered Kildare are right where they hoped to be in this Tailteann Cup to date. Next up a home quarter-final.

MAIN MAN
DARRAGH KIRWAN
There were a few decent performances, from players on both sides, but there was only one outstanding player throughout the 70 plus minutes and that was Darragh Kirwan.
The Naas man has been turning on the style in the Tailteann Cup and on Saturday he showed all his skills, hitting three points in the opening half and going one better in the second half, at a time when Kildare were coming under pressure. A superb display'

TURNING POINT
Kildare looked control at half-time but came under pressure in the second half and after hitting three wides in a row in a three minute spell then hit three brilliant points, all from Kirwan and that was that.

TALKING POINT
Kildare pushed up in the opening hald but when they got turned-over they were under big pressure at the back when Leitrim attacked.

WHAT NOW?
Kildare go straight to the quarter-final in two weeks time with the added bonus of a home venue.

SCORERS

Kildare: Darragh Kirwan 0-7, Paddy Woodgate 0-4 (4 frees), Niall Kelly 1-1, Paddy McDermott 0-2, Kevin Feely 0-1 (free), Jack Sargent 0-1.

Leitrim: Darragh Rooney 0-3 (1 free), Mark Plunkett 0-3, Tom Prior 0-2, Catha McHugh 0-1, Aidan Flynn 0-1, Barry McNulty 0-1, Ryan O'Rourke 0-1.

TEAMS
Kildare: Mark Donnellan; Mick O’Grady, Shea Ryan, Ryan Burke; Tony Archbold, Brian Byrne, Jack Sargent; Aaron Masterson, Kevin Flynn; Shane Farrell, Darragh Kirwan, Paddy McDermott; Paddy Woodgate, Niall Kelly, Kevin Feely. Subs: Alex Beirne for Shane Farrell (half-time); Kevin O'Callaghan for Kevin Flynn (46 minutes); Barry Kelly for Niall Kelly (55 minutes); Ryan Houlihan for Ryan Burke (53 minutes); Shane O'Sullivan for Aaron Masterson (63 minutes).

Leitrim: Nevin O Donnell; Cathal McHugh, Mark Diffley, Aidan Flynn; Donal Wrynn, Radek Oberwan, Tom Prior; Mark Plunkett, Barry McNulty; Jack Foley, Kieran Clancy, Ryan O'Rourke; Ben Guckian, Darragh Rooney, James Rooney, Paul Keaney. Subs: Riordan O'Rourke for Kieran Clancy (half-time); Arek Oberwan for Radek Oberwan (53 minutes); Darren Cox for Ben Guckian (53 minutes); Conor Reynolds for Cathal McHugh (53 minutes).

REFEREE: Noel Mooney, Cavan.