Kildare finish with a flourish to clinch All-Ireland U20 title

The Lilywhites had to survive a strong Sligo fightback.

Sat, 13 May, 2023 - 15:50

Kevin Egan reports from Kingspan Breffni

Eirgrid All-Ireland U-20 FC Final

KILDARE 1-17

SLIGO 0-12

12 months after his side tasted All-Ireland final heartbreak at the hands of Tyrone, Kildare manager Brian Flanagan guided a young Lilywhite side that contained six starters from that team to glory at Kingspan Breffni Park in Cavan, their victory clinched by a delightful opportunist finish from substitute Killian Browne.

Having established a dominant position at half-time, in part because of the wind but also in no small part due to their physical dominance at midfield, and in front of goal where Seán Hanafin was hugely influential, Kildare had to weather a hard Sligo tide throughout the first 20 minutes of the second half.

Despite being forced to use all five substitutes by the 39th minute, Sligo continued to batter the Kildare goal, rallied by the lion’s share of the huge crowd that thronged the Cavan venue.

With ten minutes to play, their five-point interval lead had been cut to two, and the prospect of extra-time loomed large – until 1-2 in the space of 60 seconds from the Leinster champions completely put the matter to bed.

Hanafin seized one short kickout and clipped the ball back over the crossbar, and then from the next restart, the ball also flew a little low, Killian Browne pulled it down with an excellent leap around 25 metres from goal, and his chipped shot was immaculately measured, bouncing on the goal-line before nestling in the net to double the lead. A free from Shane Farrell on the next attack made it 1-15 to 0-11, and the remainder of the game was a procession towards the inevitable.

While those late kickouts will haunt Sligo goalkeeper Ethan Carden, in truth the Yeats County were running the engine in the red just to keep up, prior to that late finish.

The Lilywhites’ control of the kickout battle in the first half was a huge factor as they established a solid platform, while ten scorers from play spoke volumes about their ability to hurt Sligo from different parts of the pitch.

With the wind at their backs, they had a four point lead on the board with just ten minutes gone, and didn’t look back from there.

Niall Dolan, Callum Bolton and a Cormac Barker free, all from distance, made it 0-3 to no score and when big full-forward Hanafin followed up with a close range point, one of several key plays from the Naas player, Sligo were in huge trouble.

Their possessions all seemed to start from deep positions as Kildare hoovered up break after break under the long kickout, and while there were good scores from James Donlon and Daire O’Boyle to keep them in touch, Kildare kicked on again in the second quarter to lead by 0-9 to 0-4 at the interval, with Adam Fanning chipping in with two fine hooked kicks in that period.

Injuries continued to hamper Sligo. Centre forward James Donlon was the next key player to make way, but his replacement Brian Byrne turned out to be one of their best attacking weapons. As Hanafin did in the first half, Byrne offered a big physical presence in front of goal and his ability to win and convert direct ball yielded two points and one free that Luke Marren converted, while the Sligo-dominated crowd gave perhaps their biggest roar of the day when Tomas Von Engelbrechten appeared to come through the back of the Curry club man inside the square midway through the second half.

Referee Martin McNally was right there and decided that no penalty was warranted, but Sligo kept coming, and Marren’s sixth free of the afternoon meant it was 0-13 to 0-11 with just under ten minutes remaining.

After a marathon season, they were about to hit the wall, while Kildare were poised to unleash their devastating final kick.

Scorers for Kildare: K Browne 1-1, A Fanning 0-3, O O’Sullivan 0-2, S Hanafin 0-2, C Bolton 0-2, C Barker 0-1f, N Dolan 0-1, R Sinkey 0-1, T Von Engelbrechten 0-1, H O’Neill 0-1, Shane Farrell 0-1f, Eoin Cully 0-1.

Scorers for Sligo: L Marren 0-7f, B Byrne 0-2, J Donlon 0-1, D O’Boyle 0-1, D Walsh 0-1.

Kildare: C Barker; H O'Neill, T Von Engelbrechten, R Burke; J Harris, J McGrath, J McKevitt; Niall Dolan, S Farrell; R Sinkey, C Bolton, C Dalton; A Fanning, S Hanafin, O O'Sullivan.

Subs: E Cully for O’Sullivan (38), E Mountaine for Harris (45), K Browne (1-01) for Sinkey (48), S Savage for Dolan (56), D Guerin for Fanning (60+2).

Sligo: E Carden; R Chambers, C Johnston, L Casserly; D Walsh, D McLoughlin, R Sloyan; C Sheridan, R Doherty; R Niland, J Donlon, M McDaniel; L Marren, D O'Boyle, M Henry.

Subs: J Flynn for Henry (23), Z Mahon for Chambers (half-time), R O’Kelly Lynch for McDaniel (half-time), B Byrne for Flynn (33), C McMorrow for Donlon (39).

Referee: M McNally (Monaghan)

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