ALL-IRELAND SFC QUALIFIER: Kildare 1-15 Antrim 0-9 AFTER THE closely fought extra-time battle in Newbridge, the replay of this qualifier at Casement Park turned out to be a damp squib.
Kildare coasted to a fully deserved win over a lacklustre Antrim side that, apart from the opening quarter, never really looked like winning despite closing the gap to one point a minute into the second half.
Without the presence of the towering Aodhán Gallagher in midfield, Antrim struggled in the area and despite rearranging their team at half-time there was never a strong presence in attack.
As well, the Antrim defence found it mighty difficult to handle Johnny Doyle.
The corner forward, who scored from various angles, finished with an impressive 1-6 and also contributed to many other attacking moves.
Paddy Cunningham, who hit all but two of Antrim’s scores, got the Saffrons off to a good start with a point from play in the fifth minute but the elation of the home fans didn’t last long. Ronan Sweeney levelled and points from Eoin O’Flaherty and Doyle showed signs of what the Lilywhites, wearing green, were capable of.
However, Kevin Brady and Cunningham had the sides level again after 19 minutes but a Kildare goal changed the picture completely. A long delivery into the Antrim area was brilliantly fielded on the edge of the square by Doyle, who turned full back Anto Healy and lashed the ball to the home net on 20 minutes for a 1-3 to 0-3 lead.
Half back Morgan O’Flaherty added a point but two pointed free-kicks by Cunningham reduced the gap to two points at the break.
When Cunningham again rifled over a free-kick one minute after the restart hopes were high among the Saffron fans that a comeback was on but the hopes soon died down.
Dermot Earley sent over a Kildare point and when six more followed without reply the writing was on the wall for the home team at 1-11 to 0-6 with 17 minute left.
Antrim had rearranged their team at half-time with Healy going up from full back to half forward, Justin Crozier taking over at number three, and James Loughrey moving from half forward to centre back but things didn’t improve as the Kildare scoring spree proved.
“We thought that Anto might give a bit more strength to the attack but things didn’t really happen for us,” reflected manager Liam Bradley.
Antrim did hit three points in four minutes from the 55th to leave the score at 1-11 to 0-9 but Kildare weathered the storm easily to pull away for four clinching points, as Doyle hit a couple of beauties, without another Antrim flag being raised.
“We didn’t see that coming and we are totally shell-shocked,” admitted manager Bradley. “Yes, we were without Aodhán Gallagher but you play with the hand that you have.”
Johnny Doyle couldn’t hide his elation at the big win.
“We knew that Antrim were a running side and we had to counteract that. Once we found the target we did take some good points. It was a good win for us,” he agreed.
KILDARE:S McCormack; P Kelly, H McGrillen, A MacLochlainn; M O'Flaherty (0-1), E Bolton, B Flanagan; D Flynn (0-1), D Earley (0-1); J Kavanagh, P O'Neill (0-1), E O'Flaherty (0-1); J Doyle (1-6, four frees), R Sweeney (0-1), E Callaghan (0-2). Subs: D Lyons for MacLochlainn (43 mins), K Gribben (0-1) for E O'Flaherty (56 mins), G White for Sweeney (64) mins, M Foley for Flanagan (65 mins), K Donnelly for Earley (67 mins).
ANTRIM:S McGreevy; C Brady, A Healy, K O'Boyle; T Scullion, J Crozier, S Kelly; B Herron (0-1), K McGourty; J Loughrey, J Niblock, T McCann; P Cunningham (0-7, frees), M McCann, K Brady (0-1). Subs: M Magill for Healy (49 mins).
Referee:J McQuillan (Cavan).
