Kildare survive late scare from Laois to advance to Leinster semi-final
Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile
Kildare progressed to a Leinster U20 semi-final against All-Ireland champions Offaly next Thursday but had to survive a huge late scare at Manguard Plus Centre of Excellence in Newbridge last night before making sure of their win.
With two points between the sides, in the last action of the game, a slack pass by Kildare full back Dean O’Donoghue presented Oisin Hooney with a glorious chance to score a match winning goal but agonisingly for Laois his shot with the last kick of the match went inches past the post.
Such drama didn’t look on the cards when Kildare raced into a nine point lead in the first half after goals from O’Donoghue and Daniel Lynam in the first 18 minutes.
Laois struck back with two goals in 60 seconds from Paddy Hosey and Davin McEvoy and just four points separated the sides at half time.
Again, Kildare took control during the third quarter and stretched their lead to seven but Laois, led by Colin Dunne, rallied in the last ten minutes and made things very nervy for Kildare and they were just inches away from snatching a sensational late winner.
C Barker; H O’Neill 0-1, D O’Donoghue 1-0, M Maguire; T Martin, J McGrath, T Gill; B Gibbons, L Killian; N O’Regan 0-1, D Lynam 1-1, A Fanning 0-5, D Swords 0-2, S Farrell 0-1, E Bagnall 0-5fs.
A Boyle for Martin, 22; J McKevitt for McGrath, 49; J Dalton for O’Regan, 49; R Burke for Fanning, 55; C Shanahan for Lynam, 60.
C Browne; B Reddin, E Delaney, B Dempsey; S Greene, S Fingleton, C Heffernan; C Burke, K Swayne; R Murphy 1-0, D McEvoy 1-0, S Fitzpatrick 1-1; P Hosey 1-1, D Carolan 0-1, C Dunne 0-6 (4fs, 1m).
D Brennan for Reddin, 28; O Hooney for McEvoy, 41; D Slevin for Burke, 45; B Whelan 0-1 for Hosey, 52; C Goode for Carolan, 55.
F Pierce (Offaly).
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