Goals fire Kildare minor hurlers past Laois in opening Leinster Championship game

Electric Ireland Leinster M.H.C. Round 1 – Tier 2

Kildare 4-11

Laois 0-15

It was an absolutely breathless start to proceedings as Kildare faced Laois in the opening round of the Leinster Minor Hurling Championship. The Lillies hit the net just 60 seconds after the referees first whistle when Oran Byrne took aim at the posts.
Byrne, who had a fine game all in all, dropped his effort well short, but the ball was gathered quickly by Cian McGrath and promptly fired into the net.

Laois would be level just a minute later, but managed to do so without raising a green flag of their own after some of the fastest consecutive scores you are ever likely to see. The first came through forward Eoin Delaney who more than stood out on the day for the visitors with a fine point from range.

Delaney would hit again straight away as Laois turned over the ball in the middle of the park. Laois would again win the resulting puckout and it was then Kyron Cuddy’s turn to get on the scoresheet to level this game.
Laois took the lead on three minutes through Delaney once again before Kildare responded in emphatic style.

The Lillies would find the net after Paddy Kennedy gathered possession before making a burst at the Laois defence. Kennedy offloaded to Cian McGrath, who once again brilliantly found the net and bagged himself a brace inside the opening five minutes.

Kildare’s focus beneath the posts was not incidental by any stretch as The Lillies faced into a strong first half breeze. It was clearly planned that the home side would aim their sights at Ethan Lafferty’s net for the first half.

Laois would again respond well to the blow as they notched points from Tom Óg Phelan and Daniel Whelan to hit back.

Kildare would raise their first white flag of the afternoon after eight minutes when Tom Power nailed a free from out wide. Their second soon followed as Oran Byrne, much like he had for Kildare’s first goal, took aim from range, but this time slotted his effort between the posts.

The next score would be another Kildare goal after they made good on one of their puckouts for a change. The long ball into the middle of the park was superbly claimed by John Dee, who then found Tom Power further up the field. Power would drive on another few yards before playing in Sean McLoughlin who found the net to make this game 3-2 to 0-6.

After a converted free from his own ‘65 from Laois’ Tony Mahony, Kildare would score their fourth and final goal after just 15 minutes. The Lillies electric forward line was in full flow as Cian McGrath expertly spun his man before hand-passing across to Tom Power who smashed the ball into the back of the net.

Laois to their immense credit would take over from here, perhaps spurred on by the writing on the wall of facing a strong second half breeze well behind. The visitors outscored Kildare 0-6 to 0-2 before half-time to send the sides in at the break at 4-4 to 0-13.

After the hustle and bustle of the opening 30 minutes, Kildare demonstrated a different side to their game as they managed the second half expertly.

Kildare would outscore Laois 0-7 to 0-2 in the second half as a mixture of resilient defending and much greater control in the middle facilitated their dominance.

The opening round win was an excellent one for manager Adrian Kinsella’s side who had this to say after the game, “We are delighted with the win and with the performance more importantly. A really strong breeze to contend with in the first half, but we had a game plan and to be fair to the lads they stuck to it and it bore fruit.

“Laois are a quality team and we knew we were going to be up against it. But if you had offered me the position we were in at half-time before throw-in, I would have snapped the hand off you. We were in a really good place to drive on from there.”
Kildare looked a completely different side after the break in this game. The frantic pace of their attack was replaced by a much calmer approach to proceedings.

Best for Kildare in the second half were Joey McNulty and Colm Gordon, who were superb at the back.

Scorers: Kildare, Tom Power 1-5 (0-3 frees, 0-1 '65), Cian McGrath 2-0, Sean McLoughlin 1-1, Oran Byrne 0-1, John Dee 0-1, Colm Gordon 0-1, Paddy Kenendy 0-1, Fionn Frisby 0-1.

Laois, Eoin Delaney 0-5, Tom Óg Phelan 0-4 (0-4 frees), Tony Mahoney 0-2 (0-2 frees), Eoin Bracken 0-2, Kyron Cuddy 0-1, Daniel Whelan 0-1.

KILDARE: Fionn Kelly; Dáibhí Reynolds, Conall Knox, Joey McNulty; Colm Gordon, Ciaran Dunne, Oisín O'Neill; Oran Byrne, John Dee; Ronan O'Malley, Paddy Kennedy, Sean McLoughlin; Cian McGrath, Michael Owens, Tom Power. Subs: Darragh Devine for Colm Gordon (42 minutes), Fionn Frisby for Ronan O'Malley (48 minutes), Gavin Kenny for Michael Owens (48 minutes), Odhrán Conaty for Oran Byrne (55 minutes), Cillian Price for Joey McNulty (56 minutes).

LAOIS: Ethan Lafferty; Conor Mortimer, Shane Walsh, Aaron Walsh; Eoin Duggan, Ruaidhrí Kavanagh, Tony Mahony; Tommy Goode, Daniel Whelan; Eoin Delaney, Oisín Moore, Eoin Bracken; Ross Deegan, Tom Óg Phelan, Kyron Cuddy. Subs: Colm Brennan for Oisín Moore (22 minutes), Shane Connolly for Ross Deegan (45 minutes), Ben Holohan for Shane Walsh (49 minutes), Ashton Keenan for Daniel Whelan (55 minutes).

Referee: Ciaran Flynn (Meath)

MAIN MAN
Cian McGrath
There are undoubtedly a fair few candidates for this title, but it would be a disservice to the Celbridge forward not to give it him after two first half goals before setting up another. McGrath was ruthless when his chances came and those green flags raised set his side up victory.

TURNING POINT
Kildare's third and fourth goals came just three minutes apart and really put daylight between them and Laois. Although the visitors were far from out of this game, that quick-fire double gave them a mountain to climb.

TALKING POINT
Kildare had a clear strategy for the strong breeze in this game and how it well it worked would give any coach pause for thought. You may not hit four goals every game, but a plan for specific weather conditions certainly appears to be a bright idea.

WHAT NOW?
The Kildare minor hurlers are away to Carlow on April 6 for the second round of the Leinster Minor Hurling Championship.