Young guns fire Larries into Kildare IFC Final with win over Two Mile House

St Laurence's 0-12

Two Mile House 0-8

St Laurence's join Sallins in the 2025 National Electrical Wholesalers Kildare Intermediate Football Championship Final after their win over Two Mile House in Manguard Park, Hawkfield.

With a mighty wind at their backs, Larries were expected to do the majority of the first half damage. They opened the scoring in a fairly dour half thanks to Mark Glynn when the midfielder broke forward. 

The minutes that followed were a mix of poor decisions and poor play generally before Ruaidhri Lawlor got the game’s second score in the 11th minute. Lawlor didn’t celebrate his two-pointer from roughly 50m out and instead implored his teammates to take similar efforts at goal from central positions. Larries would finish the half with nine wides.

Two Mile House got their first and only score of the half a minute later when Chris Healy knocked over a free from close-range.

Kevin Eustace added Larries’ second two-pointer from just outside 45m in the 17th minute.

The minutes were ticking by and four points seemed like nowhere near enough considering the blustery conditions in one direction.

Larries to their credit surged late to add two more points to their tally with a TJ Nolan ‘45 and a Ruaidhri Lawlor point after a great run by the young forward.

St Laurence’s carried an 0-7 to 0-1 lead in at the break after a superb defensive showing with less impressive output at the other end.

Larries came out prepared with their precarious lead in mind and Noel Mooney figured that Two Mile House couldn’t score if they didn’t have the ball as his side maintained extended spells of possession.

The only score in the 10 minutes after half-time was for Larries when David O’Driscoll fired over.

Two Mile House finally came into the game with a burst of five points in as many minutes between the 42nd and 47th.

An Aidan Casey free and a Chris Healy two-pointer were followed by Conor Keogh rattling the crossbar after getting away from his marker.

The House were back within two at 0-8 to 0-6 after a Didier Cordonnier free and a Chris Healy score off his right-hand side.

At a delicate stage in this game, Larries held their nerve and reassumed control of the ball.

They extended their lead back to three with a well-worked score that was finished off by Ruaidhri Lawlor in the 51st minute.

The trailing side then became their own worst enemy when a free-kick in the middle of the park was brought forward for dissent and TJ Nolan tapped over from close-range.

Larries now held a four-point and were also chipping away at the clock. 

TJ Nolan was the man to put them out of sight as he added further points to his tally in the closing moments with a free that he won himself and a superb point after an even better solo run.

A Didier Cordonnier two-point free in added time closed the gap but there was little danger of a turnaround at that stage as Larries finished as 0-12 to 0-8 winners to progress to this year’s final.

St Laurence's, Ruaidhri Lawlor 0-4 (one 2pt), TJ Nolan 0-4 (0-2 frees, 0-1 '45), Kevin Eustace 0-2 (one 2pt), Mark Glynn 0-1, David O'Driscoll 0-1.

Two Mile House, Chris Healy 0-4 (0-1 frees, one 2pt), Didier Cordonnier 0-3 (0-3 frees, one 2pt free), Aidan Casey 0-1 (0-1 frees).

ST LAURENCE'S: Paul Clynch; Luke Gorman, Ciaran O'Sullivan; Ian Fleming; Niall Clynch; David O'Driscoll; Niall O'Connor; Mark Glynn; TJ Nolan; Kevin Eustace, Ruaidhri Lawlor, Tom Dooley; Cian Miley, Senan Murphy, Adam Steed. Subs: Eoin Curley for Senan Murphy (42 minutes), Jack Dargan for Niall O'Connor (46 minutes), Roco Roche for Adam Steed (56 minutes), Glen Holmes for Cian Miley (61 minutes).

TWO MILE HOUSE: Didier Cordonnier; Michael McLoughlin, Peter Kelly, Tom Henneberry; Andrew May, William Burke, Andrew Cregg; Marcus Kiely, Aidan Casey; Tony O'Connor, Adam Conneely, Jack Collins; Gavin Burke, Conor Keogh, Chris Healy. Subs: Glenn Burke for Jack Collins (47 minutes), Brian Collins for Michael McLoughlin (55 minutes), Tom Coleman for Andrew Cregg (56 minutes).

Referee: Niall Colgan

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