Kildare 2-15 DIT 0-09
Kildare were much too strong for DIT as they progressed to the final of the Bord na Móna O’Byrne Cup with a comfortable victory at St Conleth’s Park.
The champions flew out of the traps and had six points on the board inside nine minutes. DIT did launch a mini-revival but a brilliant Seamus Hanifin goal in the 29th minute put Kildare 1-11 to 0-5 in front at half time.
Eoghan O’Flaherty provided a sublime pass for Hanifin’s score and found the net himself in the 44th minute as Jason Ryan’s crew skated to a 12-point victory.
O’Flaherty finished with a goal and four points and he got the scoring under way with an early free. Gary White, Eamon Murphy, O’Flaherty, Padraig Fogarty and Hugh Lynch added to the tally with the scores from White, O’Flaherty and Lynch right out of the top drawer.
Conor Madden was DIT’s prime contributor with six points and he got the students off the mark from a free after ten minutes.
When Shane Dowling finished well for their fourth point in the 25th minute, the deficit was still only five.
Hanafin’s composed finish, after being found by an inch-perfect pass from O’Flaherty, stopped DIT in their tracks though and it was a nine-point game at half time.
Kildare were sloppy in the second half, giving away possession too often, although DIT did make it more difficult for them by pulling more bodies behind the ball.
Madden had two points not long after the resumption but when White’s attempt for a point landed in O’Flaherty’s arms, the Carbury man cut back inside before shooting low to the far corner, via a slight deflection.
Fogarty and O’Flaherty followed up with two excellent points as the game drifted to its inevitable conclusion.
A combination of over-elaboration and some commendable last-ditch defending prevented Kildare from making the most of another four goal opportunities but the Lilywhites were able to cruise towards a date with Dublin in Newbridge next Sunday.
Scorers – Kildare: E O’Flaherty 1-4(0-1f); P Fogarty 0-4; S Hanafin 1-0; E Murphy (1 45), F Dowling (1f) 0-2 each; G White, G Farrell, H Lynch 0-1 each
DIT: C Madden 0-6(4fs); P Brogan, S Dowling, C Ferris (45) 0-1 each.
Kildare: T Corley, O Lyons, P Kelly, M O’Grady, G Farrell, E Doyle, C O’Shea, G White, H Lynch, K Murnaghan, E O’Flaherty, E Murphy, F Dowling, S Hanafin, P Fogarty.
Subs: J O’Connor for Doyle (49), S McNally for Lyons (55), D Whyte for Lynch (58), C Bolton for Dowling (59), J Robinson for Corley (65), B Kinihan for Farrell (65)
DIT: C Ferris (Dublin), O Manning (Dublin), B Power (Meath), S Clayton (Dublin), S Dowling (Meath), A Waters (Dublin), D O’Reilly (Dublin), C Reddin (Dublin), R Gaughan (Dublin), E Fletcher (Dublin), A Martin (Dublin), B McMahon (Meath), P Brogan (Dublin), C Madden (Cavan), E Flanagan (Cavan).
Subs: G Gallagher (Dublin) for Flanagan (ht), G O’Reilly (Dublin) for Dowling (54), D Shatwell (Dublin) for Gaughan (61), I McDonald (Wicklow) for Brogan (61), C Doyle(Dublin) for Manning (63), C Ryan (Dublin) for Power (65)
Referee: D Gough (Meath).
