All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Round 3B – Kildare 0-13 Clare 0-12

Kildare defeated Clare by 0-13 to 0-12 in Round 3B of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship on Saturday July 19th at Cusack Park Ennis.

SFC Round 3B: Kildare deny brave Bannermen

ALL-IRELAND SFC ROUND 3B QUALIFIER: CLARE 0-12 KILDARE 0-13

Report from GAA.ie

Kildare needed six points from Alan Smith to get across the winning line at Cusack Park on Saturday evening, as Clare looked like causing one of the shocks of the year with a super performance. The Banner men led by 0-7 to 0-4 at half-time and by six points with 25 minutes remaining, but Jason Ryan’s men stormed into the final quarter and kicked the last seven points of the game to clinch a one-point win.

Two late first-half points from Shane McGrath gave Clare a decent cushion at the break, but with Smith in fine form at the other end, Kildare managed to stay in touch with the home side despite a poor start. Smith was the main reason Kildare managed to clinch the win, but they also had three points from substitute Eoghan O’Flaherty to thank for avoiding a shock defeat.

After keeping his side within range of Clare, Smith had cut the lead to two points immediately after the restart, but the Banner men then kicked five in a row to take a convincing lead. But Kildare finally clicked thereafter and once O’Flaherty stopped the rot with a fine point, further scores from Smith, Eamonn Callaghan and Paddy Brophy eventually saw Kildare over the line.

Kildare now go on to meet one of the losers of the Ulster and Leinster finals – if Meath lose to Dublin, Kildare will definitely play the Ulster runners-up as they have already faced the Royals this year.
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Scorers for Clare: D Tubridy 0-4 (3f, 1 ’45’), S McGrath 0-2, G Brennan 0-2, E Coughlan 0-1, P Collins 0-1, R Donnelly 0-1, M McMahon 0-1

Scorers for Kildare: A Smith 0-6 (1f), E O’Flaherty 0-3, E Callaghan 0-2, P O’Neill 0-1, P Brophy 0-1

CLARE: J Hayes; S Hickey, K Hartnett, M McMahon; J Malone, G Kelly, C Russell; G Brennan, S McGrath; S Collins, E Coughlan, S Brennan; P Collins, D Tubridy, R Donnelly
Subs: D Ryan for S Collins (56), E Cleary for Donnelly (56), M O’Leary for Coughlan (60), S McNelis for Hickey (65), P McMahon for S Brennan (66), L Healy for Russell (70).

KILDARE: M Donnellan; C Fitzpatrick, O Lyons; E Bolton, M O’Grady, F Conway, K Cribbin; T Moolick, G White; C McNally, N Kelly, P O’Neill; E Callaghan, P Fogarty, A Smith
Subs: T O’Connor for Fogarty (31), E O’Flaherty for White (43), P Brophy for Kelly (48), E Doyle for O’Grady (52), S Hurley for Moolick (58), M Conway for (70)

Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan)

Team News

KILDARE: Mark Donnellan; Ciaran Fitzpatrick, Hugh McGrillen, Ollie Lyons; Emmet Bolton, Fergal Conway, Keith Cribbin; Tommy Moolick, Gary White; Cathal McNally, Niall Kelly, Pádraig O’Neill; Eamonn Callaghan, Pádraig Fogarty, Eoghan O’Flaherty

CLARE
1. Joe Hayes (Lissycasey)
2. Shane Hickey (Kilmurry Ibrickane)
3. Kevin Harnett (Meelick)
4. Martin McMahon (Kilmurry Ibrickane)
5. Jamie Malone (Corofin)
6. Gordon Kelly (St Joseph’s Miltown)
7. Ciaran Russell (Éire Óg)
8. Gary Brennan (Clondegad) (Capt)
9. Shane McGrath (Thomas Davis)
10. Sean Collins (Cratloe)
11. Enda Coughlan (Kilmurry Ibrickane)
12. Shane Brennan (Clondegad)
13. Padraic Collins (Cratloe)
14. David Tubridy (Doonbeg)
15. Rory Donnelly (Cooraclare).

Preview: SFC Round 3B – @GaaClare v @KildareGAA, Cusack Park, Ennis, 7pm, Saturday: http://t.co/teRvMWay43 #gaa

— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 18, 2014

Tickets for @GaaClare v @KildareGAA are on sale from tickets.ie, Centra and Supervalu. Adults €20, juveniles €Free. More info to come.

— Clare Gaa (@GaaClare) July 15, 2014