Second-half slump
Burke’s youthful Wicklow team falter after the interval
DESPITE building a deserved sixpoint lead at half-time, Wicklow were made to pay for a soft goal early in the second half of their O’Byrne Cup tie against Kildare, as the visitors overturned the deficit to run out comfortable victors on Saturday afternoon.
A pair of Darren Hayden goals put Davy Burke’s youthful team into control at the interval, following an exhilarating first-half performance that restricted their Division 2 opponents to a scoreless first 20 minutes, despite the loss of goalkeeper Mark Jackson to injury.
However, Kildare upped their game in the second-half, as an inspired Jack Robinson display, as well as some costly, unforced errors at the back from Wicklow, turned the game on its head and gave the away team the deserved victory.
Wicklow went into Burke’s very first home game in charge at a wind-swept Aughrim having already racked up a defeat in Carlow in their disappointing O’Byrne Cup opener. Missing Daniel Keane, Alan Daly, and Darragh Fitzgerald to injury, Burke welcomed back Darren Hayden to the starting XV, while also giving a debut to 18-year-old Zach Cullen.
The loss of some of the more experienced players did nothing to slow Wicklow down, as they made an electric start to Saturday’s clash with a strong wind at their backs. It took just 23 seconds for them to get off the mark, as Dean Healy – starting at centre-forward – set-up Chris O’Brien right from the off.
Padraig O’Toole spurned the chance to grab the opening goal a few minutes later, but Wicklow made up for that as Chris O’Brien (2), an outstanding long-range strike from county player of the year Mark Kenny, a Mark Jackson free, and a debut score from the impressive Zach Cullen pushed
Wicklow into a merited 0-6 to no score advantage.
It would take 22 minutes for Kildare to grab their first score of the day, when good work down the right involving Jack Robinson and Kevin Flynn ended with Daniel Flynn seeing his strike well-saved by Mark Jackson.
Unfortunately for Jackson and his teammates, the rebound bounced off of Chris Byrne for the opening goal of the day.
That goal, and the subsequent loss of Mark Jackson due to a shoulder injury sustained in the build-up, could have proved to be Wicklow’s undoing. In reality, they came back stronger. A long-ball from Dean Healy was gathered by Darren Hayden, who slipped the ball into the back of the net to cancel out Kildare’s strike.
Just two minutes later, Hayden doubled his tally with yet another goal as the hosts looked to capitalise on the wind at their backs with scores on the board.
It would be Kildare who would finish the half the stronger, however, as three consecutive points sent the sides into the break poised at 2-6 to 1-3 in Wicklow’s favour.
As Burke would acknowledge following the game, the second half represented Kildare’s turn to play with the wind at their backs, and they took advantage of this to flip the momentum of the contest in their favour, helped along the way by some dreadful mistakes at the back by Wicklow.
If Wicklow were going to survive Kildare’s second-half onslaught, it would be important to keep the ball out of the back of the net. Unfortunately, that game plan was thrown out the window after less than a minute.
The Lilywhites’ pack utilised a high press on the Wicklow backs to prevent them from passing the ball out and up the pitch. The result of this saw Robert Lambert, brought on for the injured Mark Jackson, send a lazy pass across to Zach Cullen, which was intercepted by Daniel Flynn, who promptly buried the ball past Lambert to reduce the score to 2-6 to 2-3.
At this point, the momentum had already shifted in Kildare’s favour, yet there was 34 minutes for Wicklow to endure. Johnny Byrne and Tommy Moolick were dominating Lambert’s kick-outs as the wind that swept towards the town end hung the ball in the cold Aughrim air.
Meanwhile, Jack Robinson was beginning to find his shooting boots. A free and two well-taken points came either side of a Johnny Byrne to give Kildare the lead after 42 minutes. Robinson and company kept coming.
The Clogherinkoe clubman got two more scores, the second of which being a free earned off of an advanced mark, to push the lead out to a 2-9 to 2-6, as Wicklow struggled to escape their own half with possession in hand.
The hosts would get their first and only score of the half through a Chris O’Brien free seven minutes from play – 34 match-minutes after their last one – to offer them a glimmer of hope, but it would prove to be a red herring.
Not only were Kildare continuing to find their mark – David Hyland and Daniel Flynn pushing them out to a four-point advantage – but Wicklow were passing up what chances were coming their way – Donor Healy, Chris O’Brien, and Darren Hayden all putting opportunities wide.
Both of these elements converged as the game came to a conclusion.
After Ross Davis saw a shot at goal blocked down by a Kildare defender, the visitors broke up the field, a break which was capped off by a David O’Neill point.
One more score, for Sam Doran, brought the game to a close, as Wicklow capped off 2019 with another defeat from which Davy Burke and his young troops will hope to learn.
Scorers: Wicklow: Darren Hayden (2-0), Chris O’Brien (0-4; 0-2f), Mark Jackson (0-1f), Mark Kenny (0-1), Zach Cullen (0-1).
Kildare: Jack Robinson (0-6; 0-2f), Daniel Flynn (1-1), Chris Byrne (1-0), Kevin Flynn (0-2), David Hyland (0-1), David O’Neill (0-1), Johnny Byrne (0-1), Neil Flynn (0-1f), Sam Doran (0-1).
WICKLOW: Mark Jackson; Jamie Snell, Wayne Doyle, Eoin Murtagh; Zach Cullen, Shane Mooney, Conor Healy; David Devereux, Padraig O’Toole; Andy Maher, Dean Healy, Darren Hayden; Mark Kenny, Chris O’Brien, Eoin Darcy. Subs: Robert Lambert for M Jackson, JP Hurley for D Healy, Ross Davis for M Kenny, Cian Lee for E Darcy.
KILDARE: Aaron O’Neill; Conor McCarthy, Eoghan Bateman, Liam Healy; Con Kavanagh, David Hyland, Shea Ryan; Johnny Byrne, Tommy Moolick; Kevin Flynn, Paddy Brophy, Chris Byrne; Jack Robinson, Daniel Flynn, Darragh Kirwan). Subs: David O’Neill for C McCarthy, John O’Toole for E Bateman, Keith Cribbin for S Ryan, Robbie Philips for J Byrne, Sam Doran for T Moolick, Paschal Connell for K Flynn, Padraig Nash for P Brophy, Tony Archbold for C Byrne, Jimmy Hyland for J Robinscon, Neil Flynn for D Kirwan. REFEREE: