Kildare 3-12 Offaly 0-9
Kildare easily avenged last year's defeat to neighbours Offaly in O'MoorePark last night as a devastating first half performance, powered by senior player Niall Kelly, helped them secure a meeting with Meath in the Leinster semi-final in a fortnight.
Kelly struck five points in all, four in the first half, while a scrambled, disputed goal from Mark Sherry also contributed to Kildare’s commanding 1-8 to 0-4 interval lead.
Offaly produced some fantastic attacking football immediately after the restart, picking off four points on the trot within five minutes, and they could have drawn level were it not for a stunning save by Colin Heeney who saved Declan Byrne's shot from 15 metres out.
Heeney’s save turned out to be the first of three decisive incidents in the space of five minutes, all of which favoured the Lilywhites.
Declan Flaherty doubled their lead when he tapped the ball to an empty net following Mark Sherry’s mishit shot, then Seán Moriarty was shown a straight red card by Patrick Maguire for an off the ball clash with Ryan Houlihan.
The victors eased through the last 20 minutes, adding just four scores of their own but comfortably holding Offaly at bay. Their third goal came from Neil Flynn with injury time looming.
KILDARE: C Heeney; P Mescal, D Maguire, B Byrne; R Houlihan, P Connell, D Hyland; D Fitzpatrick, R Moore (0-2); C Fenner (0-1), M Sherry (1-0), N Kelly (0-5, 0-1f); N Flynn (1-1, 0-1f), D Flaherty (1-1), C McMonagle (0-1). Subs: C Healy for Flaherty (45), T Gibbons for McMonagle (49), S O'Hagan for Maguire (51), D Duke for Connell (55), W Fitzpatrick (0-1) for Fenner (60).
OFFALY: J Colgan; J Hendy, J Lalor, A Whelan; C McNamee, O Cusack, D Corbett; E Carroll (0-1), D Byrne; J Evans, P Cunningham (0-1), S Moriarty (0-1); R McNamee, J Maher (0-4, 0-2f), L Kelly (0-2f). Subs: J Kinahan for C McNamee (27 - B/C), S Tierney for R McNamee (47), J Kavanagh for Byrne (47), Adam Shelley for Kelly (49).
Referee: Patrick Maguire (Longford)
