O'Se's men lose out to 14-man Kildare

BANK OF IRELAND LEINSTER SFC QUARTER-FINAL:

Kildare 0-14 Westmeath 0-11

Westmeath's grip on the Leinster SFC trophy was relinquished in dramatic fashion at Croke Park this evening as 14-man Kildare dunked the Lake men 0-14 to 0-11.

The Lilywhites, who lost Ronan Sweeney to a first half dismissal, won through to a provincial semi-final clash with 2004 beaten finalists Laois thanks to a dogged second half display at headquarters.

Three points in the first four minutes had Paidi O Se's Westmeath in inspired form. Dessie Dolan bagged two of those with Alan Mangan also shooting over from play.

Dolan added another before Kildare rifled over a hat-trick of replies from Tadhg Fennin (0-02) and Sweeney.

Westmeath rallied back to garner a 0-07 to 0-06 half-time buffer, despite Mangan missing a penalty chance.

First, Dolan and Kildare skipper John Doyle swapped points either side of Sweeney's 19th-minute sending off ro a second bookable offence.

Doyle chipped in with another two to a sole Dolan effort for a 0-06 to 0-05 scoreline in Westmeath's favour before Mangan's spot kick was saved by Enda Murphy, after championship first-timer David Glennon had been brought down.

Following a few notable skirmishes and a Doyle free, the nerveless Dolan added another Westmeath point in injury-time.

A Dermot Early over squared things up on the restart, and was a forecast of things to come from the resurgent Kildare.

Fennin put them in front, substitute Derek McCormack, whose effort was cancelled out by Dolan, found the target before Paddy Mulvihill equalised for the Lake men.

Doyle and Mick Wright then opened up a two-point gap for Kildare with just over ten minutes to play.

Although his subsequent '45 came back off an upright, Doyle added his sixth and seventh points to emphasise Padraig Nolan's side's dominance now.

Dolan rediscovered his form to cancel that brace out with two of his own, the second in the first minute of injury time.

A desperate finish was called for from O Se's men - a goal if possible. Substitute Paul Conway had a close-range shot at the Kildare net but his attempt rose over the bar.

A Fennin free wrapped Kildare's win up seconds later, and stirred memories of their 1998 and 2000 Leinster wins for the white hordes who followed them to the capital today.