Kelly the star of the show as Kildare hammer Offaly to seal O'Byrne Cup semi-final berth

O'Byrne Cup round three

Quite how much Kildare manager Cian O'Neill will take out of this O'Byrne Cup campaign is a mystery seeing as Kildare have racked up a scoring difference of +53 in their three games, but there can only be positives after numerous youngsters were introduced to senior football and the team played with a fluidity and panache that was incredibly enjoyable to watch.

The Lilywhites had this game sewn up by the 23rd minute when Eoin Doyle slotted home a close range goal to put Kildare 2-5 to 0-2 clear against 14-man Offaly, and although their second half display was rather disjointed, they remained in control throughout and never looked in any trouble. They will now play Dublin in the O'Byrne Cup semi-final next weekend after the Metropolitans edged to victory over Wexford this afternoon.

You wouldn't have sensed that there would be another hammering in the offing with four minutes played as Offaly came out like a side that were intent on having a good lash at securing an 11-point win that would give them a chance of qualifying for the semi-final stage, and they scored two of the game's first three points in a decent early surge.

Peter Cunningham and Nigel Dunne both knocked over points from play inside the first four minutes, with both scores sandwiching an excellent effort from Tommy Moolick in the second minute. That proved to be a false dawn for the Faithful County as they would fail to score for the remainder of the half as Kildare completely took over.

Their challenge was more or less crushed in the tenth minute when Nigel Dunne was sent off for an illegal strike on Cathal McNally, and with just 14 men for over an hour, it was always going to be an uphill battle against a Kildare side that looks settled and playing with extreme fluidity.

A couple of points from Neill Flynn either side of a score from Conor Hartley helped Kildare into a two-point lead, before Niall Kelly clinically finished to the corner of the net from 15 metres out to bag the game's opening goal and effectively kill it as a contest. The Athy man had been excellently set up by Cathal McNally, and he then turned scorer soon after when he clipped over a point from the right wing following an exquisite pass from Moolick.

Kelly was a man playing with supreme confidence at this stage, and he showed all his class to jink his way into space and clip over a score from 40 metres out. Whatever hopes Offaly would have still harboured by that stage was soon crushed when Eoin Doyle finished to the net from close range following some approach play by McNally and Flynn.

The effectiveness of Kildare's tackling game and the intensity in which they were playing with was too much for their opponents to handle, and the home side were guilty of throwing away possession on countless occasions throughout the first half, allowing Kildare to easily break up field and score relatively unopposed. A score each from the highly impressive Conway and the roving Niall Kelly helped Kildare into a 2-8 to 0-2 half-time lead, and the only question at that stage was regarding what size the winning margin would be stretched to in the second half.

Offaly came out looking to restore a bit of pride at the beginning of the second half, and Willie Mulhall knocked over their first score for over 35 minutes, and the same player followed up with another couple of scores soon after, the last of which was an exceptional point from 45 metres out. Kildare were dealt a blow soon after that when referee Patrick Maguire evened up the numbers by sending Shea Ryan off for an apparent kick to the back of Michael Brazil.

A Shane Nally point reduced the gap to eight points, but it was still highly unlikely that Offaly would ever threaten a comeback as Kildare continued to cruise through the game, and when Tommy Moolick palmed home a third goal for the visitors after being set up by Flynn it was evident that the Offaly heads began to drop again. The game really petered out from that stage onwards as both managers emptied their benches, and there were large periods where neither set of umpires were called into action.

Niall Kelly's 59th minute score was Kildare's last from play, and save for a couple of late scores at either end from Shane Tierney and Sean Doyle for Offaly and Fionn Dowling and Kelly for the visitors, there was little to take away from the closing stages.

Scorers for Kildare: N Kelly 1-4, T Moolick 1-1, N Flynn 0-2(2f), C McNally, F Dowling(1f), F Conway and C Hartley 0-1 each.

Scorers for Offaly: W Mulhall 0-3(2f), S Nally, N Dunne, S Tierney, S Doyle and P Cunningham 0-1 each.

Kildare

M Donnellan(S McNamara 57mins); O Lyons, D Hyland, M O'Grady; S Ryan, E Doyle(F Conway 59mins), J Byrne(C O'Donoghue ht); F Dowling, T Moolick(P Connell 55mins); F Conway(K Cribbin ht), C Hartley(D Slattery ht), C McNally(E Heavey 51mins); N Flynn, N Kelly(C Hartley 60mins), B McCormack(E Callaghan 51mins).

Offaly

A Mulhall(B Rohan 55mins); C Donoghue, J Lalor, J O'Connor; D Hogan(L Colgan 55mins), S Nally, A Mahon(D Brady 43mins); E Carroll, J Gethings; L Fox(D Carroll 55mins), W Mulhall(S Doyle 52mins), J Brickland(K Dunne 51mins); N Dunne, M Brazil, P Cunningham.