O’Neill fumes at ref as Kildare’s dour run goes on
KILDARE manager Cian O’Neill blasted referee Paddy Neilan for a number of ‘embarrassing’ errors surrounding the advantage rule which potentially cost his team a much-needed result.
Tyrone captain Mattie Donnelly settled a frantic affair in Newbridge with a brilliant match winning point six minutes into injury-time.
Kildare dominated the possession stakes for the most part and were in front as late as the 65th minute but simply couldn’t close it out. It’s their third straight loss and they’re staring down relegation now, though O’Neill claimed that Roscommon referee Neilan did them no favours.
O’Neill was furious in particular that Neilan didn’t apply the advantage rule on three separate occasions, claiming that there were clear scoring opportunities in two of them.
‘I thought we had three really good, well, two scoring opportunities in advantage scenarios, two really strong, strong ones, and we were blown back for the free,’ fumed O’Neill. ‘If it happens once it’s disappointing and it’s a mistake — if it happens three times it’s borderline embarrassing for me, if I was in that position (as referee).
‘Tyrone are a seasoned team, they’re a very experienced team and they’re difficult to break down. We still clipped 18 points which is really pleasing but two of those three instances (where advantage wasn’t played), we were actually penetrating through the middle which is so hard to do against them and we were blown back.
‘That, to me, if it happens once is frustrating. If it happens too many times, it’s just not on. Guys train too hard for those things to happen.’
It’s consecutive one-point defeats for Kildare in Newbridge and former Kerry coach O’Neill said his players are ‘p ***** off’ at failing to seal the deal again.
Kevin Feely was terrific for them at midfield, scoring nine points and giving an exhibition of freetaking, high fielding and distribution.
Yet the former soccer professional will have nightmares about the 68th minute free he dropped short and goalkeeper Mark Donnellan failed to convert another in the 70th minute.
Ulster champions Tyrone punished those misses with an iron fist and outscored Kildare by 0-3 to 0-1 in the closing minutes to pinch a crucial win.
‘If you didn’t win this one, you’re three and nought, not a great place to be,’ observed Tyrone boss Mickey Harte. ‘Three and one still doesn’t leave you out of the woods by any means but at least there’s a wee bit of optimism there now.’
Both sides began the day bottom in Division 1 and after a bright Kildare start, when they went four points clear, it opened up into tit-for-tat encounter.
The sides were level six times in the second-half and eight in total, though the end result was a seventh straight defeat for Kildare.
That’s a tale of woe that stretches all the way back to last summer when they last won a game, against Meath in the Leinster Championship.
Kildare retained a four-point lead after 25 minutes when they were 0-8 to 0-4 up.
But a 29th-minute Tyrone goal from Lee Brennan hauled Tyrone back and they took a slender 1-8 to 0-10 lead at the interval.
It was a goal from nothing as Brennan seized possession at the back post and fired low past Donnellan following a long ball in from Cathal McShane.
Kildare were largely on top throughout the second-half and with Feely pulling the strings they drew a series of frees for fouls on the likes of David Hyland and Fergal Conway. Feely routinely converted them though Tyrone remained in touch on the scoreboard with points from Padraig McNulty, Darren McCurry and Connor McAliskey. In windy conditions, Kildare led 0-17 to 1-13 with 65 minutes gone and felt they were in a position to hang on. But Tyrone brought all their big-game experience to bear on the closing stages and ensured that Kildare left empty handed. Donnelly was terrific in those final minutes and kicked two beauties from the left wing, the second of which proved to be the winning point.
McShane also converted a great score as Kildare were left wondering ‘what if’ after Feely and Donnellan failed to convert their frees.