Goals see Kildare get better of Derry in Christy Ring Cup
The Lilies ran out 2-19 to 0-18 winners in Manguard Park
Kildare 2-19
Derry 0-18
Kildare remain firmly on track in their quest for Christy Ring Cup honours with a fine seven point win over Derry in Round 3 of the competition played on Saturday afternoon at Manguard Park, Hawkfield.
The win leaves Kildare in the driving seat with two games to go, both away, two weeks time against Tyrone followed by a trip across the pond to take on London.
Manager Brian Dowling said he was “delighted with the victory, our first half was excellent and while shooting leaves room for improvement nevertheless I felt overall we played well.
“The second half starting off certainly wasn't good but we showed great heart, settled down again the got some great scores.”
Kildare playing with the aid of a breeze opened with a Cathal McCabe point after some 15 seconds.
Derry carved out a goal chance when Dara Mooney combined with Corey O'Reilly but the latter's goal attempt was brilliantly saved by Paddy McKenna.
Simon Leacy and Mark Delaney extended the lead before Cormac O'Doherty who had an excellent game on the frees for Derry, opened his eight point account on seven minutes.
Kildare added three points while also hitting four wides but when another three white flags were waved for the home side The Lilies now led 0-7 to 0-2 on 17 minutes.
Three minutes later and a lovely pass from David Qualter found Jack Sheridan and the Naas sharp shooter made no mistake firing to the net.
Darragh McGilligan got Derry's third point followed by another two frees from Cormac O'Doherty but Kildare finished strongest adding points from Muiris Curtin, Jack Sheridan, Curtin again and the final point of the half from Simon Leacy to leave the half-time score reading Kildare 1-12 Derry 0-6.
Derry upped their game on the resumption hitting the opening two points of the second half and while David Qualter responded a further brace from O'Doherty (2 frees) and Callum Murray had the lead back to five.
Not for the first time it was Jack Sheridan who eased the growing worries when out close to the corner flag gained possession, skipped passed a Derry defender before firing to the net from a very acute angle for an absolute fabulous goal to make it 2-14 to 0-11 on 50 minutes.
Sheridan quickly added a point before Derry hit back with points from Ruairi Ó Mianáin (2) and Richie Mullan; Sheridan replied with two frees but Derry were refusing to go away and added three points from Meehaul McGrath (2) and Callum O'Kane to leave it 2-16 to 0-17.
Kildare responded well with two points from U20 star Cian Boran and Jack Sheridan to close out the game on the final score line of Kildare 2-19 Derry 0-18.
While manager Dowling was happy with his side's display he showed his displeasure with the fact that Kildare were forced to play a Leinster U20 game a mere 24 hours earlier.
“It is not fair on the lads (U20s) we couldn't start them today, we didn't want to bring them on to be honest but we felt we needed them, it is something the GAA need to look at, they can't be asking counties like Kildare to play two games (senior and U20s) to play within 24 hours, we don't have the numbers like other counties, needs to be looked at.”
Scorers: Kildare, Jack Sheridan 2-7 (5 frees), Muiris Curtin 0-2, Cathal McCabe 0-2, Simon Leacy 0-2, David Qualter 0-2, Cian Boran 0-2, David Qualter 0-2, Mark Delaney 0-1
Derry, Cormac O'Doherty 0-8 (8 frees), Ruairi Mianáin 0-4, Meehaul McGrath 0-2, Darragh McGilligan 0-1, Richie Mullan 0-1, Callum O'Kane 0-1, Cahil Murray 0-1.
KILDARE: Paddy McKenna; Cormac Byrne, Mark Grace, Simon Leacy; Paul Dolan, Conan Boran, Rian Boran; Cathal McCabe, Daire Guerin; Darragh Melville, David Qualter, Conn Kehoe; Muiris Curtin, Jack Sheridan, Mark Delaney. Subs: Cian Boran for Mark Delaney (49 minutes); Daniel O'Meara for Cormac Byrne (53 minutes); Jack Higgins for Conn Kehoe (53 minutes); Declan Flaherty for Darragh Melville (60 minutes); John |McKeon for Paul Doolan (65 minutes);
DERRY: Oisin O'Doherty; Paddy Kelly, Brian Kearney, Niall Farren; Aimon Duffin, Richie Mullan, Sean Cassidy; Cormac O'Doherty, Meehaul McGrath; Corey O'Reilly, John Mullan, Darragh McGilligan; Dara Mooney, Ruairi Ó Mianáin, Paul Cleary. Subs: Callum O'Kane for Aimon Duffin (half-time); Cahill Murray for Paul Cleary (half-time); Christy McNaughton for John Mullan (46 minutes); Sean Kelly for Dara Mooney (50 minutes); Pádraig Neilis for Aimon Duffin (67 minutes).
REFEREE: Pauric Dunne, Laoise.