Dublin 2-23

Kildare 1-17

Fintan O’Toole reports from Croke Park

ONCE THEY HAD two goals on the board after 11 minutes, there was a degree of inevitability about Dublin’s march to another Leinster senior final win this afternoon at Croke Park.

Underdogs Kildare may have notched the first point of the game courtesy of Daniel Flynn inside the opening seconds but when they shipped goals in the 10th minute to Dean Rock and less than a minute later to James McCarthy, the Lilywhites were in trouble.

James McCarthy fires home Dublin's second goal of the game. Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

To their credit, they rallied impressively before half-time. After 20 minutes Kildare trailed 2-4 to 0-1 but by the break had cut the gap to 2-8 to 0-10. Points from Johnny Byrne and Daniel Flynn were the pick of the bunch during that scoring spree.

Source: Oisin Keniry/INPHO

However Dublin took over after the interval. With Rock having departed the action following a black card in the 23rd minute, Con O’Callaghan deputised in style as he wound up with a tally of 0-12 – six of those points from dead balls.

Bernard Brogan seized his chance when coming on for Rock as he finished up with 0-5 from play.

Kildare had a glorious chance to hit the net in the 42nd minute when Daniel Flynn burst through but Stephen Cluxton was equal to his close-range shot.

It was 2-11 to 0-11 at that juncture and then Dublin kicked six of the next seven points in the game to move out of sight.

Kildare kept pushing until the finish and they did manage to raise a green flag deep in injury-time when Paddy Brophy gathered a high delivery from Eamonn Callaghan before nudging the ball to the net.

Yet the game concluded with Dublin nine points clear as they reigned supreme in Leinster once more.

Scorers for Dublin: Con O’Callaghan 0-12 (0-6f), Bernard Brogan 0-5, James McCarthy, Dean Rock 1-0 each, Ciaran Kilkenny 0-2, Paul Mannion, Paddy Andrews, Shane Carthy, Brian Howard 0-1 each.

Scorers for Kildare: Paddy Brophy 1-3 (0-1f), Kevin Feely 0-5 (0-4f), Daniel Flynn, Cathal McNally 0-2 each, Johnny Byrne, Keith Cribbin, Niall Kelly, David Slattery, Fionn Dowling 0-1 each.

Dublin

1. Stephen Cluxton (Parnells)

22. Philly McMahon (Ballymun Kickhams)

6. Cian O’Sullivan (Kilmacud Crokes)

3. Michael Fitzsimons (Cuala)

4. Eric Lowndes (St Peregrine’s)

26. John Small (Ballymun Kickhams)

7. Jack McCaffrey (Clontarf)

5. James McCarthy (Ballymun Kickhams)

8. Brian Fenton (Raheny)

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12. Con O’Callaghan (Cuala)

9. Ciarán Kilkenny (Castleknock)

10. Niall Scully (Templeogue Synge Street)

11. Paul Mannion (Kilmacud Crokes)

13. Paddy Andrews (St Brigid’s)

15. Dean Rock (Ballymun Kickhams)

Subs

18. Bernard Brogan (St Oliver Plunkett’s-Eoghan Ruadh) for Rock (black card) (24)

20. Shane Carthy (St Vincent’s) for Scully (47)

22. Darren Daly (Fingal Ravens) for McMahon (48)

23. Kevin McManamon (St Judes) for Andrews (51)

19. David Byrne (Naomh Olaf) for O’Sullivan (58)

21. Brian Howard (Raheny) for Fenton (67)

Kildare

1. Mark Donnelan (Maynooth)

2. Mark O’Grady (Celbridge)

3. David Hyland (Athy)

4. Ollie Lyons (Celbridge)

5. Johnny Byrne (Allenwood)

6. Eoin Doyle (c) (Naas)

7. Keith Cribbin (Johnstownbridge)

8. Kevin Feely (Athy)

9. Tommy Moolick (Leixlip)

10. Fergal Conway (Celbridge)

11. Niall Kelly (Athy)

12. David Slattery (Confey)

13. Paddy Brophy (Celbridge)

14. Daniel Flynn (Johnstownbridge)

15. Cathal McNally (Johnstownbridge)

Subs

25. Paul Cribbin (Johnstownbridge) for Conway (44)

17. Fionn Dowling (Suncroft) for Moolick (48)

18. Peter Kelly (Two Mile House) for Doyle (52)

26. Ben McCormack (Sarsfields) for McNally (57)

21. Emmet Bolton (Eadestown) for Byrne (63)

19. Eamonn Callaghan (Naas) for Feely (black card) (64)

Referee: Anthony Nolan (Wicklow)

Source: The42 GAA/SoundCloud