Kildare hurlers clapped off after legendary season ends with All-Ireland SHC defeat

Dublin 3-25

Kildare 0-13

Just six days after their Joe McDonagh Cup win and an unknown number of days after celebrations concluded, Kildare came up short in their All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Preliminary Quarter-Final against Dublin.

The Lilies, buoyed by a packed house, enjoyed mixing it with Dublin in the opening exchanges.

After Seán Currie opened the scoring with a free for The Dubs, the home crowd roared when David Qualter opened Kildare’s account with a set-piece of his own.

The Maynooth sharpshooter turned provider as The Lilies continued to rally. Qualter then set up Jack Sheridan to fire over and draw rapturous applause as Kildare took the lead.

The Dubs responded in emphatic style with an equalising point from Diarmaid Ó Dúlaing, which was quickly followed by their first goal from Ronan Hayes. The Dublin corner-forward capitalised on Kildare coughing possession at the back and produced a cool overhead finish to make this game 1-2 to 0-2 in the 10th minute.

If the home side could be criticised for anything on the day it would have to be their wasting of possession, whether it was turnovers in precarious areas or passes that were seemingly just hit forward without looking. It was clear they were feeling the pressure applied by this towering Dublin side.

The boys in blue went 1-3 to 0-2 ahead from the puck out after goal as Kildare struggled to match the opposition in the air. Dublin’s aerial superiority caused havoc throughout the game.

David Qualter brought Kildare back to within three in the 12th minute with another well-taken free.

Dublin responded with frightening simplicity as Seán Brennan lumped the ball to Chris Crummey from the restart. The centre-back plucked ball from the sky and turned quickly before firing over.

Qualter’s first from play brought Kildare back to three once more after a superb turnover from The Lilies high up the field.
At 1-4 to 0-4 on the 15-minute mark, The Dubs put their foot down. A blistering tally of 1-3 inside two minutes changed the complexion of things drastically.

Points from Seán Currie and Cian O’Sullivan in quick succession were followed by the visitors’ second goal of the evening. Chris Crummey, under pressure on the stand side, managed to pass the ball to Diarmaid Ó Dúlaing and the Commercials forward drove on and found the net in convincing style.

Ó Dúlaing provided a moment of magic for a point minutes later when he got his shot away off balance and facing away from the posts with the ball sailing between them nonetheless.

By the time The Lilies scored again, once more through David Qualter, the game sat at 2-10 to 0-5. Qualter’s converted set-piece in the 25th minute would be Kildare’s last of the half while The Dubs tacked on four more.

Ó Dúlaing capped an exceptional first half display by adding two more points to his tally while Seán Currie hit his fourth and Brian Hayes opened his account.

The Dubs led the Joe McDonagh champions 2-14 to 0-5 at the break.

Riain McBride was first to raise a white flag after the break and it came just seconds after the restart. It wasn’t going to be all one way traffic however as David Qualter matched the score at the other end.

The ruthless sting had come out of Dublin, but Kildare were battling to keep themselves competitive in this game.
Brian Hayes got his second of the match before McBride grabbed another.

Cian Boran was the man to answer for Kildare with perhaps their score of the day. Boran found space and was urged to shoot by the watching fans and he answered their call in style.

A David Qualter free made this game 2-17 to 0-8 in the 47th minute with both sides adding 0-3 after the break.

The Lilies’ first and indeed best sight at goal came moments later when they sprung a counter-attack and Cathal Dowling was slipped through on goal. Dowling drove towards Seán Brennan’s net but saw his drilled effort brilliantly diverted by the Dublin netminder. David Qualter dispatched the resulting ‘65, but it was a chance missed for a huge moment in front of the sold-out crowd.

Kildare kept pace for large swathes of the second with Gerry Keegan and Jack Travers adding points to The Lilies’ tally.
After being dominated in the first half, Kildare had matched Dublin 0-8 to 0-8 with eight minutes remaining in the second. It had been a respectable showing after the restart, but The Dubs would surge late to add another 1-3 and some shine to their scoreline.

Seán Currie, Conor Burke, and Whitely would add the visitors’ final three points as they departed from Newbridge with a 3-25 to 0-13 win.

The moment of the day for this Kildare side came after full-time as they began to filter towards the dressing room. A packed St Conleth’s Park rose to applaud their hurling heroes after an exceptional year.

The joy of their cup-winning day in Croke Park was followed six days later by a tough task in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship but one they more than committed themselves to. Their loss to Dublin brings down the curtain on a legendary season in the history of Kildare hurling.

In the same season as they achieved their first ever Joe McDonagh Cup game victory against Westmeath, Kildare lifted the trophy and inserted themselves amongst the elite for next year’s competitions with league promotion also secured.

Cill Dara Abú!

SCORERS
DUBLIN: Seán Currie 0-8 (0-5 frees), Diarmaid Ó Dúlaing 1-4, Fergal Whiteley 1-1, Ronan Hayes 1-1, Riain McBride 0-3, Brian Hayes 0-3, Cian O'Sullivan 0-2, Chris Crummey 0-2, Conor Burke 0-1.

KILDARE: David Qualter 0-8 (0-6 frees, 0-1 '65), Gerry Keegan 0-2, Jack Travers 0-1, Jack Sheridan 0-1, Cian Boran 0-1.

TEAMS
DUBLIN: Seán Brennan; John Bellew, Paddy Smyth, Conor McHugh; Paddy Doyle, Chris Crummey, Paddy Dunleavy; John Hetherton, Brian Hayes; Riain McBride, Fergal Whitely, Diarmaid Ó Dúlaing; Seán Currie, Cian O'Sullivan, Ronan Hayes. Subs: Conor Burke for Riain McBride (44 minutes), Conal O'Riain for Cian O'Sullivan (49 minutes), Andy Dunphy for Paddy Dunleavy (50 minutes), Darragh Power got Ronan Hayes (64 minutes).

KILDARE: Paddy McKenna; Richy Hogan, Rian Boran, Daniel O'Meara; Simon Leacy, Cian Boran, Paul Dolan; Daire Guerin, Cathal McCabe; Liam O'Reilly, Gerry Keegan, David Qualter; Darragh Melville, Cathal Dowling, Jack Sheridan. Subs: Jack Travers for Cathal McCabe (44 minutes), Harry Carroll for Liam O'Reilly (49 minutes), Muiris Curtin for Jack Sheridan (58 minutes), Killian Harrington for Cathal Dowling (60 minutes), Oisin Lynam for David Qualter (66 minutes).

Referee: James Owens, Wexford

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