Kildare 1-22
Offaly 2-14
KILDARE KEPT OFFALY scoreless for the last 20 minutes of action, including eight minutes of injury time, and scored five points in that period to pull away from their rivals.
Adam Tyrrell, Niall Kelly and Neil Flynn all scored three points as they led by five at the break, Tommy Moolick having goaled in the 15th minute.
The hosts were good value for the lead at that stage though Offaly had shown plenty themselves.
In particular, Johnny Moloney was proving a real handful, scoring two points from play and being fouled for two of Nigel Dunne’s five pointed frees.
The second half was played in a welter of excitement with the attendance fully engaged and players getting involved all over the place.
There were plenty of cards dished out and Offaly drew close with goals from Nigel Dunne and Peter Cunningham’s emphatically-finished penalty.
In truth, they were rare attacking forays for Offaly though as Moolick, Feely and Emmet Bolton got on a mountain of ball.
As tempers frayed late on, Offaly lost Eoin Carroll to a second yellow card in the 67th minute but Kildare held their nerve with a couple of pointed frees by Eoghan O’Flaherty as well as tremendous scores by Kelly, David Hyland and Alan Smith saw them home.
Scorers for Kildare: N Flynn 0-5 (0-2f); N Kelly, A Tyrrell (0-2f) 0-4 each; T Moolick 1-1; E O’Flaherty (0-2f), F Conway 0-2 each; C McNally, K Feely, A Smith, D Hyland 0-1 each.
Scorers for Offaly: N Dunne 1-7 (0-7f); P Cunningham 1-1 (1-0 pen); J Moloney, N Darby (0-1f) 0-2 each; N McNamee, G Guilfoyle 0-1 each.
Kildare
1. Mark Donnellan
2. Peter Kelly
3. David Hyland
4. Ollie Lyons
5. Johnny Byrne
6. Eoin Doyle
7. Emmet Bolton
8. Tommy Moolick
18. Kevin Feely
10. Adam Tyrrell
11. Morgan O’Flaherty
9. Fergal Conway
13. Cathal McNally
14. Niall Kelly
15. Neil Flynn
Subs:
20. Ciarán Fitzpatrick for P Kelly (33)
12. Eoghan O’Flaherty for Tyrrell (48)
17. Cian O’Donoghue for Lyons (inj, 51)
19. Fionn Dowling for Doyle (BC, 52)
24. Alan Smith for Flynn (54)
26. Keith Cribbin for McNally (BC, 70+2)
Offaly
1. Alan Mulhall
2. Brian Darby
3. Eoin Rigney
4. Seán Pender
5. Niall Darby
6. Peter Cunningham
17. Cian Donohue
8. Eoin Carroll
9. Niall Smith
12. Michael Brazil
14. Nigel Dunne
13. Graham Guilfoyle
15. Anton Sullivan
11. Niall McNamee
10. Johnny Moloney
Subs:
21. Conor McNamee for Guilfoyle (ht)
23. Bernard Allen for Brazil (65)
21. Jason Gethins for Donohue (67)
28. James Lalor for Cunningham (70+4)
Referee: Padraig Hughes (Armagh)
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Two incredible tennis players, full marks to both.
Thought it was a brilliant sporting occasion, two heavyweights toe to toe giving their all, gracious and sporting afterwards one in victory the other in defeat … True corinthian spirit of sport!
Brilliant match, every point fought for
Fantastic stuff. Well done to Novac!! Federer is an unbelievable sportsman. Mr Murray would want to look and learn how he conducts himself on the court when when winning or loosing.
Incredible match and kudos to both men. After his 4th set collapse Djokovic could have wilted but instead showed his indomitable spirit. 7 grand slam wins now and if he didn’t play in the Federer/Nadal era it would be twice that amount. Will be an all time great, along with the aforementioned pair by the time his career ends.
Was hoping Roger could make it number 18 in slams and a record 8th mens title but not to be. He might not get too many more chances but he is such an incredible athlete you wouldnt bet against it. We are in not just a golden era of mens tennis, but a golden era of sporting excellence with Nadal, Federer and Djokovic all battling it out. And they are all such classy individuals on and off the court.
Ah gwan roger ya legend!!ya magician ya!its relaxing just to watch how pure and fluid he is win he is on the tennis court.Getting abit older but still plugging away when he us supposed to be in decline,pluggin away like a true champion!well done to novak,tough test that would give him unbelievable confidence!