All-Ireland champions! Hyland inspires brilliant Kildare to first ever U20 championship title

Kildare 1-18 Mayo    1-16 All-Ireland U20 Football Championship final Jimmy Hyland’s incredible display on front of goal inspired Kildare to win the first ever All-Ireland title at U20 level as the Lilywhites held on at the end to edge past Mayo in an absolute thriller. To a man Kildare were utterly brilliant, doing most of the groundwork in the first half before surviving a second half storm from the westerners in a frantic affair. Ballyteague man Hyland landed 10 points – eight from play – in an imperious shooting exhibition where he didn’t kick a single wide throughout the 60 minutes. Kildare began the game without Ruadhan Ó’Giolláin, a player who has been a mainstay of the team throughout their run to the final. The Maynooth man had to have his appendix removed a day before the game which was a crushing blow to a player who has provided so much for this team. Jack Bambrick came in to mark Mayo captain Ryan O’Donohgue, seeking to do a similar man-marking job to the one he did on Dublin’s James Madden in the Leinster final. Everything went right for Kildare inside the first 20 minutes as they scored from 11 of their 12 shots on goal, showing incredible composure and accuracy as they kicked into the Hill 16 end. At the back they were defensively solid too, with Mark Barrett and Mark Dempsey particularly impressive in shutting down their men. Aaron Masterson played the perfect captain’s role in the opening minute when coolly curling over a fine point from 35 metres out, but Mayo responded well to take the lead through scores from the lively Colm Moran and the deadly accurate Ross Egan from a free. Kildare upped the gears after that however, and it was the inspiration of Paddy Woodgate’s left boot that orchestrated the Lilywhites attack. The Raheens man set up Brian McLoughlin to win a free which he then converted, and another sumptuous pass to the Clane man created the first goal of the game, with McLoughlin coolly rounding his marker and rolling the ball to the net. The move had began with a brilliant turnover by Mark Dempsey in the full-back line and goalkeeper Aaron O’Neill carrying the ball out to the ’45 to create an overlap. Hyland opened his account for the day with a lovely effort from the right wing, before adding another from the opposite side after being picked out by Woodgate. Trailing by five points, Mayo finally hit back through a score from Moran, and Egan added another free after DJ Earley hauled down Conor Diskin, a foul which earned the Monasterevan man a black card. Hyland and Oisín McLaughlin swapped points at either end, before Kildare went on a scintillating scoring spree as they four points in succession to surge clear. McLoughlin set up Tony Archbold to volley over from close range, before Darragh Ryan won the resultant kickout and provided McLoughlin with the opportunity to stroke over his first point from play. Masterson and Padraig Nash scored a couple of fabulous points from distance in quick succession as the Lilywhites powered into a 1-9 to 0-5 lead. Egan and Woodgate traded scores before Mayo hit a purple patch that got them back into the game. Mayo’s free-taker maintained his unerring accuracy with a point from a placed ball, before Ryan O’Donoghue grabbed a vital goal when he claimed possession from an Aaron O’Neill kickout and sauntered through all to easily. Kildare responded well to that setback however, and it was Hyland who finished the half in superb style as he slotted over another three points in the final six minutes. Evan O’Brien and Egan managed to keep Mayo in the hunt at the break with a point apiece, reducing Kildare’s advantage to four as they led by 1-13 to 1-9. The Lilywhites looked somewhat nervous in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, kicking double the amount of wides they had done in the first and failing to get their full-forward line into the game. Conor Diskin and Moran both broke through for Mayo to blaze over scores as the Connacht champions looked menacing in the early stages, and Kildare’s lead was suddenly cut to just two points early in the half. Hyland provided the perfect tonic however, kicking four points in a row for Davy Burke’s men, the second and fourth of which came from frees. Masterson was also starting to dominate in midfield, while Mark Glynn made a big third quarter impact off the bench. The Leinster champions were dealt a big blow in the 46^th minute when McLoughlin was black carded for pulling the leg of Cathal Horan, with Sam Doran coming in to replace him. Momentum firmly swung in Mayo’s favour following that decision, with the green and red eating into Kildare’s six-point lead ever so steadily. Egan knocked over a free before being gifted with a huge opportunity in the 56^th minute when being played through on goal, but Aaron O’Neill saved superbly to his right to keep Kildare with a good cushion. Goalkeeper Paddy O’Malley managed to convert the resultant ’45 and Egan added another point from a free to cut the gap to three, but Mayo were reduced to 14 men straight after Jordan Flynn was shown a straight red card for striking Darragh Ryan. Kildare scored a point through Hyland straight away, and while O’Donoghue knocked over a final score for Mayo, they needed a goal desperately. Their captain won a late free 13 metres from goal but had his shot tipped over an Kildare edged to an historic win. Scorers for Kildare: J Hyland 0-10(2f), B McLoughlin 1-2(1f), A Masterson and P Woodgate 0-2 each, T Archbold and P Nash 0-1 each. Scorers for Mayo: R Egan 0-5f, R O’Donoghue 1-2, C Moran 0-3, E O’Brien, O McLaughlin, P O’Malley(’45) and C Diskin 0-1 each. Kildare Aaron O’Neill; Mark Dempsey, Mark Barrett, DJ Earley; Tony Archbold, Jack Bambrick, Jason Gibbons; Aaron Masterson, David Marnell; Stephen Comerford, Padraig Nash, Darragh Ryan; Paddy Woodgate, Brian McLoughlin, Jimmy Hyland. Subs used: Matthew Betts-Symonds for Earley BC 13mins, Mark Glynn for Marnell HT, John O’Toole for Bambrick HT, Sam Doran for McLoughlin BC 49mins, Shane O’Sullivan for Woodgate 63mins. Mayo Patrick O’Malley; Johnny Maughan, Brian O’Malley, John Cunnane; Paul Lambert, Cathal Horan, Oisín McLaughlin; Evan O’Brien, Jordan Flynn; Nathan Moran, Ryan O’Donoghue, Tommy Conroy; Conor Diskin, Ross Egan, Colm Moran. Subs used: Joe Dawson for Maughan 10mins, John Gallagher for O’Brien 38mins, Liam Hughes for Conroy 50mins, Stephen McGreal for Moran 53mins, Sean Óg Tigue for Horan BC 62mins.