O’Byrne Cup Round 1

Bord Na Mona O’Byrne Cup

Round 1

Kildare 1-15 Longford 0-12

Action from Kildare v Longford Photo by Carol Ryan

Cian O’Neill and the Kildare Senior Football team got their 2017 season off to a winning start after a strong second half performance secured their 1-15 to 0-12 victory over Longford in round one of the Bord Na Mona O’Byrne Cup (Saturday 7^th January).

The opening stages of the game were tough and tight with Longford setting up defensively that saw Kildare struggle to break down their system. Sean McCormack opened the scoring when he pointed from a free in the third minute. Kildare’s first score came in the sixth minute when Neil Flynn converted a free but Longford replied quickly with point from Paddy Collum who came out of goals to kick a 45 yard free. The first score from play came from centre half forward Robbie Smyth when he kicked an excellent point in the ninth minute to put Longford into a two point lead. Fergal Conway pointed from play in the tenth minute for Kildare but points from Sean McCormack (f) and Robbie Smyth saw Longford go into a three point lead after fifteen minutes of play. Kildare Centre Half Forward Conor Hartley kicked a fine point from play a minute later but Longford replied once again with a pointed free from Sean McCormack in the nineteenth minute. Fionn Dowling kicked his first point of the game in the twenty sixth minute from a placed ball to reduce the deficit to two points but a twenty seventh minute Robbie Smyth point put Longford back into a three point lead. Ben McCormack fired over a good point from play a minute later and the crucial score of the game came in the twenty ninth minute when Niall Kelly beat Paddy Collum for a goal after great work from Ben McCormack and Neil Flynn. Kildare never looked back from the goal and Fionn Dowling converted two frees in the closing stages of the first half to leave a half time score of 1-07 to 0-07 in favour of Kildare.

Conor Hartley in action for Kildare
Photo by Carol Ryan

Kildare started brightly in the second half with Conor Hartley, Neil Flynn, Fionn Dowling and Ben McCormack kicking well worked points from play in the opening eight minutes to put Kildare into a comfortable 1-04 lead. Robbie Smyth was Longford’s most lively forward on the day and he added two points in the forty eight and fiftieth minute to leave 1-02 between the teams. Conor Hartley was very impressive on his debut and he kicked his third point from play in the fifty third minute. Longford replied with points from Sean McCormack and Gary Rogers to reduce the deficit to 1-01. Neil Flynn and Sean McCormack pointed from frees before Fionn Dowling and Ben McCormack hit the last scores of the game to leave a final score of 1-15 to 0-12 for Kildare.

Kildare: Mark Donnellan, Peter Kelly, David Hyland, Mick O’Grady, Shea Ryan, Eoin Doyle, Johnny Byrne, Tommy Moolick, Fionn Dowling, Fergal Conway, Conor Hartley, Keith Cribbin, Neil Flynn, Niall Kelly, Ben McCormack.

Substitutions:

Ollie Lyons for Johnny Byrne

David Slattery for Fergal Conway

Eddie Heavey for Keith Cribbin

Pascal Connell for Niall Kelly

Sean Hurley for Neil Flynn

Eamonn Callaghan for David Slattery (Temporary)

Scorers: Niall Kelly 1-00, Fionn Dowling 0-05, Conor Hartley 0-03, Neil Flynn 0-03, Ben McCormack 0-03, Fergal Conway 0-01.

Congratulations to Shea Ryan, Conor Hartley, Ben McCormack and Pascal Connell who all made their Kildare Senior Football debuts against Longford.