Kildare put up 2-34 against poor Tyrone side

Kildare 2-34

Tyrone 0-8

It was a no-win situation Kildare hurlers found themselves on Saturday at Cedral St Conleth's Park, Newbridge, when they took on Tyrone, who lost all four games, in this Allianz Hurling League Division 2 prior to this and having taken a mother-and-father of a hiding in the last round, they probably arrived in Newbridge with the intention of keeping the score line down to a reasonable level.

In the end there was no less than 32 points separating the sides and while The Lilies will not be shouting from the roof tops about this one, nevertheless it will give their aggregate score a major boost and with Meath losing out to Derry, also on Saturday, it leaves Kildare in prime position to capture the second spot and promotion to Division 1A come 2026, and what an achievement that would be for Brian Dowling's side.

Kildare have one game left, ironically against Meath and if the promotion is not decided before that it will in two weeks time, Meath having yet to play table-toppers and unbeaten Down.

Manager Dowling used this occasion to give some of his panel members an opportunity to show their stuff, players such as 'keeper Mark Doyle and Liam O'Reilly at corner back, needless to say all the players can be happy with their individual displays against Tyrone side who were simply out of their depth.

One aspect of the game that was somewhat worrying was the display of the match official and while he did (eventually) take out a red card in the second half, that was only after Jack Sheridan had been the recipient of at least three tackles that any were worthy of the culprit being sent for an early shower.

On one occasion the Naas man was down having taken a really over-the-top challenge and with players lying on top of him a fellow Kildare player pulled one player only to be shown a yellow for his action, crazy stuff.

It was the visitors who opened the scoring when inside the opening minute mid-fielder and to scorer for Tyrone, Aidan Kelly, fired over a fine point.

Kildare responded with four points in the following three minutes from Rian Boran, David Qualter (free) and two fine efforts from James Burke.

Tyrone responded with a point from full forward Ciaran Magill, but by the time we reached the 12 minute the Kildare lead was out to 0-9 to 0-3.

In charge all of the pitch, one Kildare players who was certainly enjoying the occasion was corner back Rian Boran who not alone cleared his lines impressively with some great deliveries into his forward line but he also managed three points from play in the opening half, adding a fourth in the second.

Some 18 minutes in and the score board read Kildare 0-12 Tyrone 0-3 and a minute later The Lilies got their first goal when Daire Guerin found Muiris Curtin, the Moorefield man firing low to the net.

Aidan Kelly got Tyrone's third of the half but there was no stopping Kildare as they kept up their scoring rate and by the half-time break had recorded an impressive total of 1-21 with no less than ten players on the score sheet at that stage. James Burke had four, all from play, Rian Boran and Paul Dolan (EECC) three each leading the charge while Muris Curtin 1-1.

The game was all but done and dusted as the second half began, the only thing to be decided being the margin of victory, along with keeping a close eye on the display of the referee and hoping he would ensure proper protection of players who came in for some dangerous treatment.

James Burke and Cian Boran opened for Kildare on the resumption and while Aidan Kelly got one back for the visitors and a second soon after, Kildare added a second goal, this time Darragh Melville finding Jack Sheridan who duly finished to the bottom left corner of the Tyrone net to make it 2-24 to 0-5.

Sheridan added a point before coming in, again, for some over-the-top treatment and this time the man in black finally decided to reach for the red card, wing back Tiernan Morgan sent to the dressing room for a very high and dangerous head high challenge.

Tyrone managed just two more points, broth from corner forward Michael Little but before that Kildare had tacked on no less than another seven points to leave the final score reading: Kildare 2-34 Tyrone 0-8.

Top display from Rian Boran, Paul Dolan (EECC), Cian Boran, Jams Burke, Muris Curtin and Jack Sheridan.

Kildare now have a week off before heading to Trim and a clash with Meath, results prior to that could have decided the promotion issue, but if not The Lilies will certainly fancy their chances to defeating The Royals and heading to Division 1A before starting their Joe McDonagh Cup campaign.

So still all to play for but for now The Lilies are blooming and looking more than decent.

SCORERS

Kildare: Jack Sheridan 1-5 (2 frees), James Burke 0-6, Muiris Curtin 1-3, Rian Boran 0-4, Paul Dolan 0-4, Cian Boran 0-4, David Qualter 0-2 (2 frees), Jack Higgins 0-2 (1 free), Daire Guerin 0-1, Darragh Melville 0-1, James Dolan (Cel) 0-1, Killian Harrington 0-1.

Tyrone: Aidan Kelly 0-5 (5 frees), Michael Little 0-2 (2 frees), Ciaran Magill 0-1.

TEAMS
Kildare: Mark Doyle; Liam O'Reilly Matt Eustace, Brian Boran; Harry Carroll, Cathal McCabe, Paul Dolan; Daire Guerin, Cian Boran; James Burke, David Qualter, Muiris Curtin; Jack Sheridan, Darragh Melvillle, James Dolan (Celbridge). Subs: James Dolan (EECC) for Paul Dolan (half-time); Killian Harrington for David Qualter (half-time); Cormac Byrne for Cian Boran (41 minutes); Jack Higgins for Darragh Melville (48 minutes); Conn Kehoe for Jack Sheridan (55 minutes).

Tyrone: Connall Molloy; Ronan Molloy, Fionn Devlin, Cian McGuigan; Lorcan Devlin, Cormac Munroe, Tiernan Morgan; Aidan Kelly, Kiefer Morgan; Turlough Mullin, Branán Molloy, Mark McCann; Conal McKee, Ciaran Magill, Michael Little. Subs: Fionn Corry for Kiefer Morgan (18 minutes); Rory Weir for Mark McCann (48 minutes); Aidan Woods for Conal McKee (48 minutes); Ronan Maguire for Banán Molloy (53minutes); Michael Coyle for Ronan Molloy (58 minutes).

REFEREE: James Clarke

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