Kildare Senior League round up: Moorefield top the pile while Castledermot are relegated

The final pairings for the Division 1 Kildare Senior Football League semi-finals have been decided as Moorefield, Celbridge, Naas and Carbury all made it into the last four following the last round of games on Tuesday evening.

Moorefield will play Carbury at home and Naas must travel to Celbridge, while Castledermot were condemned to the drop alongside Clogherinkoe after losing out to Confey in Dublin by a single point.

Attack was the order of the day in Newbridge as Sarsfields left it late to down Naas on a scoreline of 3-17 to 2-17 in an absolute thriller. It took a late goal from former county star Alan Smith to pull them from one point behind, before Ronan Fitzgibbon chipped in with a late score to ensure the victory.

It was 2-8 to 1-10 in favour of the reigning county champions at the break as they managed to hang on during the early stages as the Naas attack clicked into gear in superb fashion. They were out of the blocks early through points from Barry Murphy, Conor Mellett and Ronan Joyce, but Smith bagged his first goal of the evening with a thundering finish after eight minutes to level matters. Fitzgibbon then netted a 12th minute goal as the home side hit the front for the first time.

Naas rallied through a couple of scores from Joyce and a long range Mellett effort, but Sarsfields hit five in a row over the next 10 minutes, with both Ray Cahill and Smith raising a couple of white flags each to put the Sash into a 2-7 to 0-9 lead.

Naas went into the break just one point in arrears however as Joyce converted a penalty that was well won by the lively Aidan Begley who was fouled just as he was about to pull the trigger on goal.

Despite Barry Coffey opening the scoring at the start of the second half for Sarsfields, Naas began the more impressively as Joyce knocked over a couple of frees before his younger brother John struck his second of the day.

The game was finely balanced for the remainder, with Matty Byrne making a fine impact off the bench with a couple of tidy scores for John Crofton's side, while Ross Bergin, Murphy and Paul McDermott all registered good points for the County Town side.

Begley looked to have won the game for Naas when he netted a goal five minutes from time, but it was Smith's intervention in the second minute of injury time that proved crucial. He finished the game with 2-2 to his name, while Ronan Joyce top-scored for Naas with 1-6.

Moorefield made light work of the challenge of Clogherinkoe as they won out by 1-25 to 0-7 at home as Ross Glavin's men ensured they top the table with 16 points from 12 games. Eddie Heavey, who made his National League debut for Kildare this year, was in impressive form for the hosts as he notched a string of early points before netting a 24th minute goal.

That gave the Moores an unassailable lead of 1-9 to 0-3, with Eanna O'Connor, Mark McDermott and Ian Meehan all tagging on points as they went into the break with a 1-10 to 0-3 lead.

Heavey continued to raise white flag after white flag at the beginning of the second half, while Liam McDermott also chipped in with a couple of points shortly after the restart. Their win means that they will take on Carbury at home in the league semi-final.

Carbury and St Laurence's had it all to play for as they met each other in the former's home pitch with a place in the semi-final up for grabs. Carbury looked to have lost their golden chance at making the final four as they trailed by three points going into the run in, but they reeled of 1-5 without reply to seal a 1-19 to 2-11 victory.

Terry Rossiter showed no signs of aging with a couple of well taken points in the first half for the hosts as they went in with a 0-10 to 0-8 lead, but goals from Shaun Fahey and Stephen Murphy upon the restart put the Larries in a commanding position. With the game in the melting pot it was the ever reliable Eoghan O'Flaherty who again came to the fore, netting a fine goal at the end of a superb team move to help Carbury get over the line.

Confey, who still had an outside shot of making the last four, held on to secure a 1-13 to 2-9 win over Castledermot, thus relegating the 2015 Intermediate county champions to Division 2 alongside Clogherinkoe. With the game played in Abbottstown, it was Confey who stormed into a 1-10 to 0-5 interval lead as James Gately struck a goal for the hosts.

Gately also chipped in with a few points, as did Conor Daly, but a second yellow and subsequent red card for Conor Jennings dented their challenge in the second half. Two goals in the final ten minutes gave Castledermot a fighting chance of survival, but Confey held out for a nervy one-point win.

Celbridge made it into the last four despite losing to Athy by 1-15 to 1-9. They trailed by 1-9 to 1-3 at the interval despite Craig Doyle netting for the hosts, and though David Hughes and Shane Harte chipping in with points for the hosts in the second half, Trevor O'Sullivan's men couldn't pull back the deficit against a well committed Athy outfit.

Raheens finished their league campaign by drawing 1-11 to 0-14 with Leixlip at home, with the north Kildare side staving off the threat of relegation by finishing two points ahead of Castledermot. Raheens began in spectacular fashion Jamie Malone chipped in with 1-1 early on, allied to a point from Colm Power inside the first two minutes. The home side led by 1-6 to 0-6 at the break, but Leixlip rallied well in the second half to secure their final point in the league.