Louth 1-7

Kildare 1-22

KILDARE HAD IT all their own way as they booked their place in the Leinster SFC semi-finals with a 15-point win against a poor Louth side in Croke Park.

In truth, the game was done and dusted by half-time with the Lillies 1-13 to 0-5 ahead.

After an opening 15 minutes where they dominated everywhere bar the scoreboard, Cathal McNally’s goal sparked a run which saw them outscore Louth by 1-7 to 0-2.

But for some fine stops from Neil Gallagher, it would have been even worse for the men from the Wee County.

Padraig Fogarty, a late inclusion at full-forward, impressed. He finished with 0-3 as did a lively Emmet Bolton in an tidy return from corner-back.

Shane Lennon did get a goal back for Louth in the 50th minute when Ryan Burns dropped a ball in on top of the Kildare goal and he fielded, turned and fired past Mark Donnellan.

It was little consolation, with Kildare still 12 points ahead and comfortably out of sight.

Jason Ryan started to empty his bench and two of the new faces, Eoghan O’Flaherty and Alan Smith, staked their claim with well-taken scores as Kildare rattled off six unanswered points to finish the rout.

Scorers for Louth: Lennon 1-3 (1f), Keenan 0-2, O’Brien, Grimes 0-1 each.

Scorers for Kildare: McNally 1-2, Fogarty (2f), Brophy (1f), Bolton, Kelly 0-3 each, Smith 0-2, Lyons, Callaghan, Cribbin, O’Neill, Moolick, O’Flaherty 0-1 each.

Louth

1. Neil Gallagher

2. Padraig Rath

3. Dessie Finnegan

4. John O’Brien

5. Patrick Reilly

6. Derek Crilly

7. Adrian Reid

8. Paddy Keenan (c)

10. Andy McDonnell

11. Brian White

12. Derek Maguire

13. Declan Byrne

14. Conor Grimes

15. Mick Fanning

20. Shane Lennon

Substitutions: James Stewart for Fanning (17), Ryan Burns for White (32), Brian Donnelly for Reilly (45), Eoin Lafferty for Maguire (51), Shane O’Hanlon for Donnelly (61), Robert Brodigan for Byrne (67).

Kildare

1. Mark Donnellan

2. Hugh McGrillen

3. Michael Foley

4. Emmet Bolton

5. Ollie Lyons

6. Fergal Conway

7. Keith Cribbin

8. Tommy Moolick

9. Sean Hurley

10. Cathal McNally

11. Padraig O’Neill

13. Eamonn Callaghan (c)

15. Paddy Brophy

26. Padraig Fogarty

Substitutions: Eoghan O’Flaherty for McNally (45), Alan Smith for Hurley (54), Tomas O’Connor for Fogarty (60), Daryl Flynn for Callaghan (62), Ciaran Fitzpatrick for Bolton (64), David Hyland for Cribbin (65).

Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry)