Kildare have finally grown up. On so many occasions in the past, at the merest hint of an injustice, Kildare would buckle and wilt and wallow in the self-sympathy of it all. In yesterday's Bank of Ireland Leinster football championship quarter-final replay at Croke Park, however, they took destiny into their own hands with a display of considerable substance which made a mockery of the one-point margin they eventually possessed over an out-played and partly dysfunctional Dublin team.
In truth, Kildare will probably have to wait for another day to discover their true worth. Yesterday, the opposition failed to stick to any obvious gameplan and an indication of Dublin's meagre contribution to a game that was exciting, but lacked much fluency, was that Declan Darcy's goal with virtually the last kick of the game was the first time one of their forwards managed to score from play.
By then, Dublin had been reduced to 13 men - Paul Curran was forced to leave the field injured 10 minutes from the end, at which stage they had used up all three substitutes, while a few minutes later captain Dessie Farrell completed a miserable afternoon by getting his marching orders for a second bookable offence - and the Hill had been well and truly silenced.
But Kildare did what they had to do to book a provincial semi-final encounter with Laois on July 19th. Apart from a 10-minute spell at the start of the second half when Dublin, assisted by the strong wind that blew into the railway end, actually assumed the lead with a string of four successive points and hinted at the potential within their ranks, Kildare were very much the better team - faster to the breaking ball, quicker to close down opponents, and much more willing to shoot from distance, a policy which proved especially rewarding in the first half with the wind on their backs.
And, in Niall Buckley, they possessed a man ready and able to assume leadership when things threatened to turn sour. His back-to-back pointed frees into the wind shortly after Dublin claimed the lead proved critical.
It definitely wasn't a game for the purists, and Dublin's lack of discipline proved particularly costly as they conceded some needless frees which were punished by the free-taking of Buckley and Padraig Graven. In fact, referee Michael Curley was often over-fussy and awarded 49 frees - 31 of them to Kildare - and, apart from dismissing Farrell and Kildare's Anthony Rainbow for second bookable offences late in the game, he also booked a further nine players.
Dublin's problems went beyond indiscipline. The word on the street in the days preceding the match was that Dublin wouldn't line out as selected. So it proved. But the radical nature of the changes (which saw six positional switches, the most dramatic of which was Mick Deegan's deployment as a roving full-forward) led to a lack of cohesion and there were times that Dublin players didn't seem to know what was expected of them.
The Dublin forwards seemed afraid to take long-range shots. Also, Brian Lacey kept Jason Sherlock shackled to such an extent that the Dublin wunderkind touched the ball just twice during the match and was substituted. Kildare showed great composure throughout. Ironically, Dublin had started with all guns blazing but the opening 10 minutes saw Jim Gavin kick three poor wides while Kildare's first attack led to Eddie McCormack's left foot sending over a point from 55 yards. The bug caught within the Kildare camp. After Darcy had pointed a free (his first of five pointed frees in the game), Buckley fired over a point from almost 60 yards and Karl O'Dwyer kicked one from 45 yards. By the time Darcy kicked his second free, Kildare had amassed five points. Dublin's first point from play came from the boot of Brian Stynes in the dying seconds of the first half, which left Kildare ahead by 0-6 to 0-3 at the break. Although Dublin's Ciaran Whelan kicked three successive wides within four minutes of the restart, Dublin edged closer with two Darcy frees. Then Sherlock made his only real contribution with a crossfield ball that picked out Paul Curran and the wing back kicked the equalising point. In the 47th minute, Jim Gavin tapped over a free to give Dublin the lead for the only time.
Kildare needed to show their mettle, and they scored five successive points - all from frees - as the Dublin defence creaked under the fierce pressure, although there was one Dublin breakaway when Paul Bealin crashed a shot against an upright and there were half-hearted pleas for a penalty when John Finn plucked the ball off the ground.
Buckley was inspirational in this patch, not only scoring two superb points from an acute angle into the wind, but also by winning valuable possession from kickouts, while Glen Ryan's point a couple of minutes from time was to prove crucial. Ryan's gave them a four points cushion again, after Darcy had pointed a free, and it was to prove necessary as Dublin finished with a flourish. Gavin's free was floated goalwards and Darcy responded quickest by grabbing the breaking ball and flashing it to the net. It was a mere consolation, however.
