Kildare get better of Kingdom in U20 Kerins Cup opener

John Kerins U20 development cup

Kildare 2-12

Kerry 0-15

Two first half goals from towering Kildare midfielder Sean Hanafin saw Brian Flanagan's Kildare Us20 side record a two point win over the Tomás Ó Sé Kerry side at Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney on Saturday.

Trailing by three points at the interval, 2-4 to 0-7, the Kingdom made a blistering start to the second half, firing over six of the next eight points, to seize the initiative entering the last 20 minutes, but the visitors stepped it up again to get over the line.

Kildare outscored Kerry 0-6 to 0-2 in the time as a physically imposing Kildare upped the tempo heading down the home straight.

The home team had the opening two points on the board, both from industrious full-forward Aaron O’Shea, before the Lilywhites raised their first green flag in the 13 minute. With the Kerry defence caught napping, Sean Hanafin played a one-two with Eoin Cully before palming the ball to the net from close range.

Kildare enjoyed plenty of possession throughout the half, with Hanafin and Luke Killian a formidable pairing around the middle, but their shooting left a lot to be desired. With Cillian Burke driving the Kingdom on, the home team always remained in touch.

O’Shea and wing-forward Conor Horan (2) propelled Kerry into the ascendancy by the bare minimum, 0-5 to 1-1, in the 23 minute, but Shane Farrell, Colm Dalton and Cully quickly replied with points of their own, before the Kerry defence was cut open again for the killer Kildare second goal.

A minute into first half injury-time, in what was a recurring problem all afternoon, Kildare made hay with a surging gallop down the centre of the pitch, and after wing-back Fionn Ó Giolláin had done all the hard graft, there was midfielder Hanafin to slot a low left-footed drive past Sean Broderick and into the net.

With three substitutions introduced on the resumption, the Kerry management weren’t standing on ceremony, and things looked extremely promising when the Munster side hit the ground running, an O’Shea free and a point from play by Dylan Roche igniting their second half challenge.

While wing-back Ryan Burke lofted over a beauty to settle the visitors again, Kerry were now in command, registering four of the next five scores – Keith Evans, Cian Foley, Armin Heinrich and O’Shea all on the mark – to regain control of what was turning into an exciting affair, 0-13 to 2-6.

After such a blitzkrieg of heavy artillery being unleashed on the Kildare rearguard in that ten-minute purple patch of attacking dynamism, the Kerry supporters in the crowd would have been anticipating that the collective foot would have been kept on the accelerator heading into the final quarter.

But nothing could have been further from the truth. As Kerry got bogged down in both their ball-winning abilities from kick-outs, and in their chance creation and forward division penetration, it was Kildare who dug deeper and re-established their dominance as the match progressed.

Despite finishing up with twice as many wides as their opponents (ten to five over the hour), Brian Flanagan’s outfit, with Hanafin and Killian continuing to provide the foundation stones for the team display at midfield, especially after Kerry moved Burke to full-forward, grew in confidence and belief.

Indeed, substitute Kieran Dennehy’s point in the 47th minute was the final time that Kerry would be at parity with the Leinster side, 0-14 to 2-8 as, finally eschewing greater composure in their shot selection and in their conversion rate, Kildare, convincingly, hit for home.

Killian and Dalton popped over points before another Kerry replacement, Thomas O’Donnell, landed his side’s final score in the 53rd minute. This, once again, reduced the deficit to the bare minimum, but it was Kildare that finished the stronger, the impressive Adam Fanning closing out the game with two lovely minors to copper-fasten a deserved success.

Kerry, with eight players introduced off the bench, had one final opportunity to snatch a goal-saving draw five minutes into injury-time, but a speculative delivery into the danger zone, in the general direction of full-back Colm Browne, was superbly dealt with by Kildare goalkeeper Cormac Barker.

Scorers: Kildare, Sean Hanafin 2-1, Eoin Cully, Shane Farrell, Conor Dalton, Aalan Fanning 0-2 each, Ryan Burke, Niall Dolan, Luuk Killian 0-1 each.

Scorers for Kerry: A O’Shea 0-7 (0-4fs), C Horan 0-2, D Roche, K Evans, C Foley, A Heinrich, K Dennehy, T O’Donnell 0-1 each.

KILDARE: Cormac Barker (Kilcullen); Harry O'Neill (Clane), Tomas Von Johnstownbridge (JTB), Tim Ryan Naas; Fionn O'Giollain (Maynooth), James McGrath (Athy), Ryan Burke (Caragh); Sean Hanafin (Naas), Luke Killian (Sallins); Callum Bolton (Sarsfields), Shane Farrell (Kilcock), Ciaran Flanagan (Maynooth); Kevin Cummins (Naas), Colm Dalton (Sallins), Eoin Cully Carbury (Carbury). Subs: Alan Fanning (Clane) for Kevin Cummins (half time); Niall Dolan (Raheens) for Ciaran Flanagan (half-time); Jack McKevitt (Naas) for Fionn Ó Giolláin (40 minutes); James Harris (Castlemitchell) for Eoin Cully (45 minutes); Fionn Cooke (Raheens).

KERRY: S Broderick; D Fleming, C Browne, E Healy; K O’Sullivan, A Heinrich, A Segal; C Burke), R Stack; C Horan, F O’Sullivan, K Evans; E Hassett, A O’Shea, D Roche. Subs: T O’Donnell for Stack (ht), C Foley for F O’Sullivan (ht), K Dennehy for Hassett (ht), W Shine for Roche (45), C O’Donoghue for K O’Sullivan (45), J Nagle for Segal (51), C O’Connell for O’Shea (51), D O’Connor for Fleming (59).

Referee: A Long (Cork).