Leinster and All-Ireland open up for Louth as Kildare condemned to the Tailteann Cup

“It does feel like a huge opportunity left behind us," Kildare manager Brian Flanagan said about the defeat to Louth.

Louth’s Tommy Durnin and Conor Grimes celebrate after the game. Their side have reached their third consecutive Leinster SFC final. Pic: ©INPHO/James Lawlor

Leinster SFC semi-final: Kildare 0-18 Louth 1-18 

Meath were 13 points up on Dublin in Portlaoise when Kildare’s team bus exited O’Connor Park and made its way up Tullamore’s Arden Road. The men within must have been sick to the stomach as they scrolled their phones as they made for home.

After 14 years of Dublin dominance, and two decades of titles interrupted only by Meath’s solitary intrusion in 2010, this was to be the day that the province would finally emerge from underneath the blue wave.

And Kildare were out and destined for the Tailteann Cup.

This was always a Leinster semi-final loaded with meaning, regardless of what went down in O’Moore Park. The prospect of challenging for the Delaney Cup was one thing, but only the winner here was getting to hang around for the All-Ireland series.

“It does feel like a huge opportunity left behind us,” said Kildare manager Brian Flanagan long before Meath confirmed a rerun of the controversial 2010 provincial pairing with the Wee County.

Up eight points to two after 16 minutes, Kildare somehow found themselves four in arrears after Conal McKeever found the net for Louth just before the interval. From there to the finish, this was as tight as everyone had anticipated. On the scoreboard, that is.

Really, the Lilywhites will wonder how they lost it.

They dominated possession in the second-half, finally got level with nine minutes to go, but fell foul of a late kick for home when Kieran McArdle clipped a score over the bar and Tommy Durnin launched a Hail Mary of a two-pointer that left Louth three in front.

Things got confusing after that.

Man of the match, Craig Lennon, kicked what he thought was the last ball dead over his own goal line as Kildare chased a goal and the hooter sounded, but celebrations were cut short when referee Brendan Griffin declared that Kildare were entitled to a '45'.

In the event, they got two after the first deflected wide off Lennon, the second of the dead balls eventually going wide. Louth claimed to have received confirmation afterwards that the first '45' should not have been given and the game declared as over. 

They were wrong, the referee was in the right.

As it is, Kildare can only look back on this one with regrets, six of them being goal chances that were either ignored, spurned by some brilliant goalkeeping from Niall McDonnell or a defender’s hand, or some other twist of fate.

There was no major fault line that saw them lose out. Flanagan is in his first season in charge and he spoke confidently about the prospects of his squad sticking around in its entirety for a consolation tilt at the Tailteann.

Louth, who are still not playing their best despite some superb individual performances and the returns from injury of Sam Mulroy, Lennon and Durnin, are much further down the line under Ger Brennan.

This is a third straight Leinster final for them. It’s 111 years since that happened.

Their U20s play their own Leinster final on Wednesday night, their minors are still chasing their own dreams and yet Brennan admitted that he was “contemplating probably going home with our tails between our legs” as Kildare laid siege late on.

We’ll leave it to him to sum up the chasm between the win and a loss.

“After this game, you were either going to Croke Park or you're going to, with the greatest respect, Fraher Field in Waterford for the Tailteann Cup. So that was something we were trying to use to motivate our players.” It worked. Just about.

Scorers for Kildare: A Beirne (0-6, 2f); D Kirwan (0-5, 1f); C Dalton (0-2); R Burke, C Bolton, K Feely, R Sinkey and B McLoughlin (all 0-1).

Scorers for Louth: S Mulroy (0-7, 1 2pt, 2f); C Lennon (0-4); R Burns (0-3); C McKeever (1-0); T Durnin (0-2, 1 2pt); D McKenny and K McArdle (both 0-1).

KILDARE: C Burke; R Burke, M Dempsey, B Byrne; T Gill, D Hyland, J McGrath; K Feely, C Bolton; C Dalton, A Beirne, B McCormack; R Sinkey, D Kirwan, B McLoughlin.

Subs: C Hagney for Bolton (HT); N Kelly for McCormack (44); J Hyland for Sinkey (54); R Houlihan for Gill (65); K Flynn for McGrath (69).

LOUTH: N McDonnell; C Lennon, D Campbell, D McKenny; D Nally, P Lynch, C McKeever; T Durnin, A McDonnell; P Matthews, C Downey, C Grimes; K McArdle, S Mulroy, R Burns.

Subs: D McDonnell for Matthews (41); D McKeown for Burns (58); E Carolan for Campbell (58); L Jackson for McDonnell (61); C Branigan for Grimes (67).

Referee: B Griffin (Kerry).