Kildare 2-24

Longford 0-11

Daragh Ó Conchúir reports from Cusack Park, Mullingar.

KILDARE ROMPED TO a facile victory over 14-man Longford to continue their restorative run through the Qualifiers in style at Cusack Park.

The Lilywhites tore out of the traps early on to go seven points clear with the wind and though Longford had that down to four by the 34th minute, an Alan Smith point and Eamonn Callaghan goal undid their good work to make it 1-10 to 0-5 at half time.

Jason Ryan’s men kicked the first three points of the second half and never looked back.

There was huge controversy though as Derek O’Mahoney sent off Diarmuid Masterson in an apparent case of mistaken identity in the 48th minute, meaning Longford’s already mountainous climb was made impossible with a numerical disadvantage for the final quarter.

O’Mahoney showed a yellow card before flashing the red and confirmed afterwards that the sending off was for two yellow card offences, but everyone in the ground only had Barry Gilleran cautioned, while Masterson and Jack Sheedy were incensed by the decision.

Kildare were leading by 12 points at that juncture though and when Mark Sherry ended a 30m run with a sumptuous flick to Alan Smith to goal from the resultant free, it was curtains for Longford.

Scorers for Kildare: E O’Flaherty 0-5(4fs); P Cribbin 0-4; A Smith, E Callaghan 1-1 each; M Conway 0-3(fs); M Donnellan (45s), P O’Neill, N Kelly 0-2 each; O Lyons, E Bolton, C McNally, M Sherry 0-1 each

Scorers for Longford: B Kavanagh 0-7(5fs); R McEntire, D Reynolds, R Connor, L Connerton 0-1 each

KILDARE

1 Mark Donnellan

2 Ciarán Fitzpatrick
3 Mick O’Grady
4 Ollie Lyons

5 Kevin Murnaghan
7 Eoin Doyle
6 Emmet Bolton

22 Tommy Moolick
9 Paul Cribbin

12 Pádraig O’Neill
10 Eoghan O’Flaherty
15 Cathal McNally

11 Niall Kelly
14 Alan Smith
13 Eamonn Callaghan

Subs: 24 Mark Sherry for O’Neill BC (22), 21 Hugh Lynch for Cribbin BC (47), 23 Mikey Conway for Callaghan (56), 17 Peter Kelly for Doyle (58), 26 Padraig Fogarty for Smith (59), 19 Cian O’Donoghue for Bolton (66).

LONGFORD

1 Paddy Collum

4 Fergal Battrim
6 Barry Gilleran
17 Cian Farrelly

5 Colm P Smyth
3 Barry O’Farrell
7 Diarmuid Masterson

8 Michael Quinn
9 Kevin Diffley

20 Shane Doyle
11 Ronan McEntire
15 Dessie Reynolds

12 Rory Connor
14 Brian Kavanagh
13 Liam Connerton

Subs: 2 Dermot Brady for Smyth (25), 10 Pauric Gill for Doyle (56), 21 Peter Foy for Diffley (45), 18 Thomas Gallagher for Battrim (59), 23 Ross McNerney for Connor (63).

Referee: D O’Mahoney (Tipperary)

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