Kildare's poor form continues as they lose to Louth by five points

One win from five games and the signs are ominous for Glenn Ryan's Kildare as the winner's turned around at 16 point deficit when these sides met in the Leinster Championship last summer, to a five point defeat on Sunday at the picturesque Defy Páirc Mhuire, Ardee in Co. Louth.

And make no mistake the winners were well worth their win; not that they were overly brilliant or anything like that but they made less mistakes; did not give the ball away as much as Kildare; scored two goals in the first half and most important of all know how to defend, far superior than their opponents.

It was a litany of errors that saw Kildare practically hand Louth no less than 2-4, all in the first half, with handling errors, many simply not acceptable at this level of football but they did it time and time again in that opening period and continued along the same pattern on the resumption.

Kildare did improve somewhat in the second half but every time they crept closer to the boys from the Wee County they (Louth) had the wherewithal to tack on a point or two keeping their opponents at more than arm lengths for most of the game.

The Kildare showed two changes from the team announced mid-week. Surprisingly Kevin Flynn was omitted as was Jack Robinson with Sean Sargent and Daniel Flynn drafted in.

However, Ryan Houlihan, pulled up with a hamstring problem in the warm-up and Flynn was restored to the starting XV.

Kildare hit two wides and one 'short' in the opening few minutes as they dominated the early exchanges and they finally gave the score board keeper a bit of work when centre half back, Niall Sharkey got forward and split the posts on seven minutes.

Darragh Kirwan picked up a yellow card on eight minutes for an off-the-ball foul before Louth found the Kildare net after a mere nine minutes.

Kildare lost possession, not for the first time, and Louth quickly moved the ball forward with Sam Mulroy finding Tommy Durnin who made no mistake from close range.

Darragh Kirwan got Kildare's opening point, a fine effort from wide on the left after ten before a silly foul by Ben McCormack was capitalised on by Sam Mulroy, the full forward making no mistake from some 35 m.

Neill Flynn, a free, got The Lilies second point of the afternoon on 12 minutes but the signs were there that the expected improvement the travelling fans had hoped for were not visible in the early stages.

Jack Sargent, attempting to punch a ground ball was penalised for handling on the turf and Sam Mulroy duly made it 1-3 to 0-2 on 14 minutes.

Shea Ryan, who got forward on numerous occasions in that opening half, found Neill Flynn and the Maynooth split the posts.

Paddy Woodgate followed with a fine effort to leave three between the sides but a brilliant pointed effort from Ciaran Downey extended lead and it should have been more after Eoin Doyle accidentally tripped Mulroy and the full forward fired over the resultant free.

Kevin O'Callaghan, hard-working as ever, made a fine dart forward but ran into a cluster of defenders and was blow up for over-carrying; it was the first of some five times that players in white were whistled, and rightly so, for over-carrying on the day.

A Kildare wide, followed by a 'short' followed before Shea Ryan was adjudged to have been fouled, Paddy Woodgate fired over and a minute later a great catch by Kevin Feely set up Ben McCormack and the Sarsfields man hit one of his long range trademark points to reduce the lead back to a single point — 1-4 to 0-6 on 30 minutes.

It was probably Kildare's best period of the game and even looked like they might level and even take the lead but Louth had another ideas, helped by a miss-directed hand pass from Daniel Flynn to Tommy Durnin and the big man punched over the bar.

Jack Sargent got forward to fire over and reduced the gap back to one but on 35 minutes but a long ball into the danger area was fielded by Daire McConnon and the Ardee St Mark's man converted the mark on his home pitch to stretch the lead to two as we approached half-time.

Disaster was to follow before the break when Paddy McDermott lost possession, Liam Jackson fisted a pass over the head of Eoin Doyle to Conor Grimes and the corner forward who had been off for eight minutes earlier getting treatment, made no mistake to lave the half-time scorer reading Louth 2-6 Kildare 0-7.

That second goal was a real sicker and it certainly made the task facing the visitors a big ask.

Kildare really had gifted their opponents an amount of scores in that period, handling was again a major concern with some basics of the game proving beyond many.

Aaron Masterson was introduced at half-time for Kevin Feely who picked up a knock in that opening half and the Moorefield man did have a few good moments, fielding on a few occasions, once on the edge of the square but was quickly bottled by a host of players in red shorts.

Still Kildare started the half well with Darragh Kirwan receiving a pass from Mike Joyce (half-time substitute for Paddy McDermott) and raising a white flag and two minutes later Kevin Flynn combined with Daniel Flynn, the Johnstownbridge man was fouled and Paddy Woodgate converted to reduce the gap back to three — 2-6 to 0-9 after 38 minutes.

Louth replied through Ryan Burns; Neil Flynn converted another free, Daniel Flynn fouled and Kildare, the lead back to four.

Ben McCormack picked up a yellow; Shea Ryan was penalised for picking off the ground; Kevin Flynn hit a side before Daniel Flynn combined with Darragh Kirwan, the Naas man was fouled and Kevin Flynn reduced the gap to three.

Two sides from both sides before Daire McConnon converted a free; Kildare were blown for over-carrying (again) before Tommy Durnin hit the point of the day, a brilliant long range effort on the run.

Barry Coffey had came on for Neil Flynn found the range; Daniel Flynn twisted and turned his way forward before firing over for Kildare's last point of the game.

Louth were not finished though and a punched point from Craig Lennon had the home supporters on their feet.

Kildare were blow for over-carrying once again; Louth went on the attack again and this time it was Bevan Duffy who got forward to punch another point.

Aaron Masterson made a great catch on the edge of the square but as one expects of a Mikey Harte team, he was immediately surrounded by Louth defenders, his effort was forced out for a 45 which was eventually cleared as the final whistle finally arrived, much to the delight of the home contingent, and in all fairness to the travelling fans who knew a long time before the long whistle arrived that their goose was well and truely cooked.

So just one win now for Kildare out of five outings; Louth have brought their total to three wins and are looking safe at this stage.

Clare at still under The Lilies with Limerick on the bottom. Kildare, still third from bottom, can still survive in this division but it will take a major improvement, even on the basics, if that is to be achieved.

Final score: Louth 2-11 Kildare 0-12.