Kildare on a Hy after Dubs rout
KILDARE football continues to ride the crest of a wave as their U20 footballers produced a majestic display to become the first ever Leinster champions at the GAA’S newest age grade.
After a competitive first 25 minutes, the Lilywhites dominated all over the pitch but Jimmy Hyland was the star of the show for Davy Burke’s side with eight points, six from play.
The game turned on a 26th minute save from Kildare goalkeeper Aaron O’neill to deny Tom Keane and straight away they broke for Tony Archbald to clipped over an equaliser.
For the rest of the first half the Lilies were superb. Jimmy Hyland (two), Brian Mcloughlin and Padraig Nash (two) all fired over impressive scores to make it 0-10 to 0-5 at the break.
Kildare’s control of the kickout battle was total in the second half and they starved Dublin’s forwards of possession.
In a 20-minute spell they kept the metropolitans to just one point - a goal attempt from Tom Keane that was deflected over the bar by a brave block from full back Mark Barrett.
With Hyland adding scores freely in the absence of a sweeper, Kildare were home and hosed by the time Tony Archbold fired in a late penalty to crown a dominant performance and guarantee their passage to an All-ireland semi-final, where they’ll take on Kerry.
SCORERS - KILDARE: Jimmy Hyland 0-8 (0-6f), Tony Archbold 1-1 (1-0 pen), Padraig Nash 0-3, Paddy Woodgate, Brian Mcloughlin, Shane O’sullivan 0-1 each.
DUBLIN: Tom Keane 0-4 (0-1f), Seán Bugler 0-3, James Doran, Cormac Howley & Ross Mcgarry 0-1 each