O’Connor opens with defeat for Lilywhites
KERRYMEN Jack O’Connor, Paul Galvin and Mike Quirke shared an All-Ireland-winning dressing room back in 2009, but what the three have in common now is that they are all managing Leinster football teams.
And those reigns all got off to losing starts yesterday.
O’Connor’s Kildare went down 2-14 to 0-14 to Longford, Galvin’s Wexford were defeated by Westmeath 1-11 to 0-11, while Quirke’s Laois were beaten 1-17 to 2-12 by neighbours Offaly.
O’Connor’s Lilywhites were 1-8 to 0-8 in arrears at the break in St Conleth’s Park, with Longford’s Joe Hagan netting the only goal of the opening period.
The home side kept in touch on the resumption, with Neil Flynn putting over five frees but parity eluded them in the closing stages and Longford made sure of victory when Daniel Mimnagh registered their second goal.
O’Connor will attempt to record his first victory as Kildare boss on Saturday when his side go to
Aughrim to take on Wicklow, who went down 2-5 to 0-8 to Carlow at Netwatch Cullen Park with goals from Daniel St Ledger and Robbie Kane.
Wicklow trailed by 1-4 to 0-3 at the interval and their cause wasn’t helped in the second period when Dean Healy was sent off after picking up a second card.
Galvin’s men, meanwhile, appeared to be in control at half-time in Enniscorthy when leading 0-9 to 1-4, with Joe Halligan’s 14th-minute goal keeping Westmeath in touch.
However, the game turned on its head on the restart when the Lake County side hit five points on the bounce with Conor McCormack (two), Callum McCormack, Lorcan Dolan and Kieran Martin getting off the mark.
The hosts failed to get going in the second period and only registered two points as Galvin now gears up for a clash with Quirke’s Laois.
The O’Moore men will also be bidding to recover from an opening-round defeat after losing to Offaly, for whom Bernard Allen scored seven points.
It was all square at the break, 1-8 to 2-5, with Diarmuid Whelan and Michael Keogh netting for the home side as Cian Farrell raised a green flag for John Maughan’s men. The sin-binning of Evan Carroll was a setback for Laois in the second period.