Dublin summarily dispatch of Kildare at St Conleth's Park and book All-Ireland quarter final spot
David Qualter of Kildare in action against Sean Currie of Dublin. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Kildare's summer of fun is finally over, visitors Dublin bringing an abrupt end to the Joe McDonagh Cup champions' interest in the All-Ireland SHC.
Just six days after claiming an unlikely tier two title with a huge Croke Park display, the hope was that Kildare might be able to summon a similar performance on home soil to extend their season.
But they were summarily dispatched by a Dublin side that had victory, and an All-Ireland quarter-final clash with Limerick next weekend, as good as wrapped up by half-time in Newbridge.
First-half goals from Ronan Hayes and Diarmaid O'Dulaing laid the platform for Dublin's 21-point win with Fergal Whitely adding a third goal late in the second-half.
Sean Currie, who shot 0-8, finished as top scorer for the Dubs who were sent down the preliminary quarter-final route as a result of their third placed finish in Leinster behind Galway and Kilkenny.
The jump in standard was simply too great for Kildare who were still cheered off the pitch by their fans at the end of a terrific season.
They will meet Dublin again in next season's Division 1B though for Dublin themselves, their 2025 season still has at least one more game to run.
Their dubious reward for this big win is a quarter-final clash with Limerick next weekend.
Kildare hoped to carry the momentum from their breakthrough triumph last weekend through to this game, their seventh of the year in Newbridge.
They'd won five of their previous six outings at home, only slipping up to Kerry in Round 1 of the Joe McDonagh Cup, and were tied with Dublin after 10 minutes.
But when Hayes struck Dublin's first goal in the 10th minute, it created a blue wave that washed over the overwhelmed hosts.
By half-time Dublin had put 2-14 on the board to Kildare's 0-5 with the Lilywhites managing just two points from play in that period.
The loss of James Burke from the team to injury hardly helped Kildare.
But Dublin were still without Donal Burke while former All-Star Danny Sutcliffe was absent too through injury.
Burke was at least togged out and, in a positive development ahead of next weekend, got through a light warm up along the sideline in the closing minutes of the game.
John Hetherton was a late addition to the Dublin lineup and the big St Vincent's man made two great first-half fetches, laying on points for Currie and O'Dulaing.
Rising star O Dulaing was the other late addition to the Dublin's team and filled his boots, striking 1-4 in the first-half alone.
The Commercials attacker was a constant threat, jinking this way and that and contorting his body to clip some terrific scores.
He grabbed his goal in the 17th minute after a powerful run in from the right wing that left Dublin 2-6 to 0-4 up and already in the clear.
In all, between the 14th minute and half-time, Dublin outscored a stunned Kildare by 1-10 to 0-1 to open up that giant 15-point half-time lead.
Hayes almost sniped a third goal for Dublin in the 43rd minute but blasted wide when he had Currie free on his left.
It wasn't a fatal error because while Dublin weren't as prolific in the second-half, Kildare never looked like making it a contest again.
The one time Kildare did get in on goal, Cathal Dowling was thwarted by Dublin goalkeeper Sean Brennan who pulled off a great save in the 49th minute.
Both sides rolled in their full allocation of substitutes in the closing minutes as the game petered out towards its inevitable conclusion.
Whitely registered Dublin's third goal and finished with 1-1, beating the Kildare goalkeeper at his near post following a run in from the left wing for his 65th minute goal.
S Currie 0-8 (0-5f), D O Dulaing 1-4, F Whitely 1-1, R Hayes 1-1, R McBride 0-3, B Hayes 0-3, C O'Sullivan 0-2, C Crummey 0-2, C Burke 0-1.
D Qualter 0-8 (0-6f, 0-1 65), G Keegan 0-2, J Sheridan 0-1, C Boran 0-1, J Travers 0-1.
S Brennan; J Bellew, P Smyth, C McHugh; P Doyle, C Crummey, P Dunleavy; B Hayes, F Whitely; S Currie, R Hayes, R McBride; J Hetherton, D O'Dulaing, C O'Sullivan.
C Burke for Whitely (28), blood, Burke for McBride (45), C O Riain for O'Sullivan (50), A Dunphy for Dunleavy (51), S Gallagher for B Hayes (59), D Power for R Hayes (65).
P McKenna; D O'Meara, R Boran, R Hogan; P Dolan, L O'Reilly, C Boran; D Guerin, S Leacy; C McCabe, G Keegan, D Qualter; D Melville, C Dowling, J Sheridan.
J Travers for McCabe (45), H Carroll for O'Reilly (50), M Curtin for Sheridan (58), K Harrington for Dowling (60), O Lynam for Qualter (67).
J Owens (Wexford)
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