Students resistance can't halt Kildare's march to Kehoe Cup glory

Kildare                  3-15 NUI Maynooth     3-5 Kehoe Cup final

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  While the Kehoe Cup may have been a waste of time for the Kildare hurlers due to the lack of competitive fixtures they enjoyed, at least on Sunday afternoon they were given somewhat of a challenge by NUI Maynooth. Trinity College, St Pats/Mater Dei and Longford all failed to put up any meaningful resistance against the Lilywhites, leading to many questions as to why Kildare were even competing in the Kehoe Cup when the fixtures were so one-sided. NUI Maynotth at least offered 40 minutes of resistance to Joe Quaid’s men when they met in the final in Hawkfield. The students boasted some decent players in their ranks, with two Kildare men amongst them. Interestingly, Niall Kenny, who plays club hurling for Celbridge, has recently decided to play his hurling in his native Tipperary and thus will not be an option for Quaid in the future. NUI Maynooth were impressive in the opening stages of the game, showing sturdiness in defence, guile in midfield and composure in attack. They were making their quality show on the scoreboard too, with Paul Winters bombing over a fine opening score, before Ross Donohoe floated over two long range beauties to open up an early three point lead for the students. [caption id="attachment_72698" align="alignnone" width="583"] Sean Gainey breaks out of defence for Kildare.[/caption] Kildare settled however, largely thanks to the influence of Gerry Keegan, and it was the Celbridge man who got Kildare off the mark with a fine individual score and he soon added a second point from a free. Both sides then came close to finding the net, with Gerry Keegan having a goalbound shot blocked, while at the other end Paul Dermody was forced into making a fine save on Jim White. White, a huge figure at the edge of the square, was causing plenty of problems for the Kildare defence and it was no surprise to see him find the net with 15 minutes gone. A long ball from Donohoe was poorly dealt with by the Kildare defence and White was on hand to force his way through a few bodies and pull on the sliotar, stroking it into the net. Kildare recovered however, and some of the scores they picked off in the remainder of the half were top class. Declan Flaherty split the posts from the left wing with a fine effort, while a fine team move that started with Conor Gordon winning possession at the back was finished by Richie Ryan for his first score of the game. Paul Winters fired over a ’65 for the visitors, but fine scores from Martin Fitzgerald and Philip Cocoman reduced the gap to one point. Jack Sheridan, who has posted plenty of scores in the Kehoe Cup to date, knocked over the point of the game when he won the ball on the left touchline and turned onto his left to point from 60 yards out. Keegan and Winters swapped frees before the interval to leave the scores at 0-9 to 1-5. With the wind at their backs for the second half it always looked likely that Kildare would win, but few would have predicted the dominance they enjoyed in the second period. Newly appointed captain Paul Divilly opened the scoring in the new half with a fine point from an acute angle on the left, but Kildare were about to take control of the game in a much bigger way. Declan Flaherty bundled in the first of the Lilywhites’ goals when he gathered the rebound from a Gerry Keegan shot to find the net from close range. That goal was immediately followed up by another as Richie Ryan broke towards the goal unmarked and rifled an unstoppable shot low into the corner. With 11 points between the sides, it looked like game over but Maynooth offered hope of a comeback when David Burke netted soon after Kildare had registered their two goals, and despite being eight points behind, it looked like anything was possible. An injury sustained in this clash led to the substitution of Kildare goalkeeper Paul Dermody. Kildare regrouped well however, and points from Cocoman, Flaherty and a brace of frees from Fitzgerald put the game to bed. Richie Ryan was then given his marching orders as he received a second yellow car for a high challenge. There was no malice involved in either challenge that resulted in yellow cards, but they were both brandished quite fairly by referee Alfie Devine. A second goal from Flaherty punished Maynooth further as the county side opened up a 13 point gap as the game approached injury time. Ross Donohue was also sent off late on for the visitors, though it made little difference at that stage, with Paul Winters’ late goal the only token of resistance that the students could muster up. Scorers for Kildare: D Flaherty 2-2, G Keegan 0-4(3f), R Ryan 1-1, M Fitzgerald 0-3(2f), P Cocoman 0-2, J Sheridan, P Divilly and N O’Muineachain 0-1 each. Scorers for NUI Maynooth: P Winters 1-3(2f, 1’65),D Burke and J White 1-0 each, R Donohoe 0-2. Kildare P Dermody; R Bergin, J Doran, C Gordon; S Gainey, M Moloney, P Divilly; N O’Muineachain, P Ryan; G Keegan, P Cocoman, D Flaherty; J Sheridan, M Fitzgerald, R Ryan. Subs used: S Ryan for J Sheridan, P Mc Kenna for P Dermody, F O’Muineachain for P Divilly, R Casey for D Flaherty. NUI Maynooth R Fitzgerald; C Breen, E Mc Loughlin, C Forde; K Sheridan, P Deegan, N Kenny; E Kenny, R Donohoe; P Winters, A Gleeson, C Fenlon; D Burke, J White, T Stafford. Subs used: M Campion for C Fenlon, D Teefy for A Gleeson, M Ryan for D Burke.