Kildare U20s book Leinster semi-final spot with Wexford win

Kildare 1-24

Wexford 1-12

Kildare beat Wexford to move themselves into the semi-final stage of this year’s Leinster U20 Football Championship.

It was far from convincing in the early stages and, after a Fintan Quinn opener, Wexford were first to hit the net. 

A free-kick from goalkeeper William Foley dropped short and was punched back across goal to Tom Funge, who put the finishing touch on the sequence.

The Lilies gave up two more goal chances before Jay O’Brien levelled things after nine minutes with the first of his four first half two-pointers.

Two Wexford points from James Lawless and Tom Funge pushed the home side ahead again. 

A lead that was once more drawn back by the swipe of Jay O’Brien’s boot from outside the 40m arc.

A Ryan Sinkey point put Kildare ahead after 15 minutes for the first time since the game’s opening score.

A Lawless leveller was then wiped out by a point from Lilies captain James Harris inside the same minute.

Two more Jay O’Brien two-pointers were separated by a Senan Murphy point as Kildare put themselves firmly in the driving seat. The Round Towers forward’s fourth two-pointer of the first half came from no less than 50m out and put Kildare 0-12 to 1-3 ahead after 25 minutes.

Kildare had the ball in the net for the first time not long after too. Fintan Quinn burst through on goal but perfectly skewed his effort along the ground to Eoin Cully who tapped into the net.

James Harris then got his second of the game before Eoin Cully got his first point.

Wexford, after a dire spell late in the half, got the final score of the first through James Lawless. The late score sent the sides in with The Lilies leading 1-14 to 1-4 at the break.

A black card for Kildare midfielder Ross Harrins just after half-time allowed the trailing side to close the gap by two.

Upon Harris’ return, Kildare were seemingly back to their previously comfortable position in this game.

Wexford did have a last stand in this game however. That came from a James Lawless two-pointer and Tom Funge’s second point to reduce the gap to five.

Just when Kildare needed him to settle their nerves, Jay O’Brien hit his fifth two-pointer of the game to add another flourish to a frankly ridiculous performance from the Towers man.

Kildare closed out to win this game 1-24 to 1-12.

Kildare, Jay O'Brien 0-15 (0-8 frees, 0-1 45', six two-pointers), Eoin Cully 1-1, Ryan Sinkey 0-2, James Harris 0-2, Fintan Quinn 0-1, Senan Murphy 0-1, Ben Loakman 0-1, Jimmy Lynch 0-1.

Wexford, Tom Funge 1-2, James Lawless 0-5 (0-2 frees, one two-pointer), William Foley 0-2 (0-2 frees, one two-pointer), Brian Roban 0-2, Dean Hillis 0-1.

KILDARE: Charlie Carroll; Conor O'Grady, Padraic Spillane; Niall Cramer; Colm Moran, James Harris, Cathal White; Senan Murphy, Ross Harris; Ryan Sinkey, Ben Loakman, Killian Browne; Jay O'Brien, Fintan Quinn, Eoin Cully. Subs: Austin Donegan for Killian Browne (46 minutes), Evan Boyle for Senan Murphy (53 minutes), Jimmy Lynch for Ryan Sinkey (53 minutes), Adam Fitzpatrick for Ben Loakman (57 minutes).

WEXFORD: William Foley; Tom Cummins, James Kenny, Mikey Hughes; Shane Reddy, Darragh Dee, Ruairí Martin; Tom Funge, Cathal Kehoe; Brian Roban, Fionn Kavanagh, James Lawless; Rory Gilbert, Dean Hillis, Darren Rossiter. Subs: Sean Fitzharris for Mikey Hughes (37 minutes), Jason Sheridan for Darren Rossiter (37 minutes), Harry Murphy for Dean Hillis (48 minutes), Kyle Connolly for Rory Gilbert (57 minutes), Darragh Hayes for Brian Roban (61 minutes).

Referee: Darragh Byrne

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