2023 Allianz Football League Division 2 – Kildare 0-16 Clare 0-15

Kildare defeated Clare by 0-16 to 0-15 in Round 2 of the Allianz Football League Division 2 on Sunday February 19th at Cusack Park Ennis.

Match Highlights

A 7-point comeback by @KildareGAA at Cusack Park saw them edge out Clare in Division 2. Take a look at the highlights from the game below with GAANOW! #AllianzLeagues pic.twitter.com/sdVqIbPU0w

— The GAA (@officialgaa) February 21, 2023

14-man Kildare dig deep to secure one-point win over Clare https://t.co/nLuXTPBXMf

— Irish Examiner Sport (@ExaminerSport) February 19, 2023

14-man Kildare dig deep to secure one-point win over Clare

Clare 0-15 Kildare 0-16

Report by Maurice Brosnan for the Irish Examiner newspaper

At the end Kildare took a deserved moment and soaked in applause from the small cohort of loyal Lilywhite followers who made the trip. Their first win of the league was one they had to fight tooth and nail for while down to 14 men. In the end they passed a real examination.

Daniel Flynn came off the bench to kick two points. Replacement Neil Flynn was superb in the second half while Mick O’Grady gave a captain’s performance in defence. On the Irish Examiner football podcast, former Mayo boss James Horan recently labelled Clare at home the ultimate gut check team. Over 70 minutes they would stress test every aspect of the opposition’s gameplan. That was why he relished challenge games against them.

Here they played with the breeze in the first half. Kildare dropped off their kick-out and Stephen Ryan was content to tap the majority short and avoid the Kevin axis of Feely-O’Callaghan-Flynn. Only once in the opening 35 minutes did they go long.

Padraic Collins was wrestling with Ryan Houlihan seconds after the start and when Houlihan was caught tugging the corner-forward again midway through the half the home stand erupted and David Murnane duly flashed a yellow card.

Kildare started with Darragh Kirwan and Jack Robinson inside with Jimmy Hyland floating in front. Eoin Doyle, one of four late changes before throw-in, was charged with covering the defence. Twice in the half he sprinted to the sideline for discussions with Glenn Ryan and Anthony Rainbow.

After 20 minutes Alan Sweeney was shown a black card for an off-the-ball incident but otherwise, Clare were cruising. At the turnaround they led by four with Eoin Cleary’s free-taking a particular highlight. They were well able to vary their attack, Podge Collins kicking a score with his right while Gavin Cooney stroked over a beauty with the left.

In comparison, much of Kildare’s attacks came down the righthand side. Kevin Feely marked his first competitive start since his Achilles rupture with a well taken give-and-go score but otherwise they were heavily reliant on Hyland’s frees.

Daniel Flynn came on for Robinson in the second half yet Kildare’s attack continued to falter. Kirwan did well to claim a mark only to drop it short and kicked a wide from the top of the D moments later. Just before the 50-minute mark Flynn finally won a ball out in front and scored on the spin. From the resulting kickout, a high tackle by Ben McCormack saw Kildare reduced to 14 men.

Five down with 20 minutes left in Cusack Park, time to dig deep. Kirwan caught sight of goal and smashed over. Neil Flynn cut the gap to three and then kicked a monster from out wide with five minutes left to guarantee a dramatic conclusion.

Having gone nearly 20 minutes without a score, Clare needed something. Cue Cleary’s left foot. Again the away outfit refused to die. David Hyland scored and the kickout press saw the ball back to Ryan in goals turned over. He fouled and took a black card, meaning Emmet McMahon had to stand in goals until the final whistle.

All of Kildare’s stalwarts came to the fore in the end. O’Grady’s firefighting and turnovers were awesome. Daniel Flynn stood up and summoned an equalizer. Feely broke the resulting kickout. A late driving Neil Flynn run resulted in a highly contested free, but they won’t care.

In Ennis, Kildare found the sort of spark that can fire a season.

Scorers for Clare: Eoin Cleary 0-8 (6 frees), Emmett McMahon 0-2 (1 free), Gavin Cooney 0-2, Ronan Lannigan 0-1, Podge Collins 0-1, Emmet McMahon 0-1.

Scorers for Kildare: Jimmy Hyland 0-4 (4 frees), Paddy Woodgate 0-2 (1 free), Jack Robinson 0-1, Kevin Feely 0-1, Daniel Flynn 0-2, Darragh Kirwan 0-1, Neil Flynn 0-4 (2 free), David Hyland 0-1.

Clare: S Ryan; M Doherty, C Brennan, R Lannigan; C O’Dea, P Lillis, A Sweeney; C O’Connor, D Bohannon; J Malone, E Cleary, D Coughlan; P Collins, E McMahon, G Cooney.
Subs: I Ugweru for Sweeney (half-time), A Griffin for Cooney (47), B Rouine for O’Connor (47), C Downes for Coughlan (55), C Russell for Doherty (70)

Kildare: M Donnellan, M O’Grady, S Ryan, R Houlihan; D Hyland, E Doyle, P McDermott; K Feely, K O’Callaghan; B McCormack, K Flynn, P Woodgate; J Hyland, D Kirwan, J Robinson.
Subs: D Flynn for Robinson (42), N Flynn for Woodgate (44), D Malone for O’Callaghan (58), S O’Sullivan for Hyland (67)

Referee: D Murnane (Cork)

Team News

Clare (v Kildare): D Sexton; M Doherty, C Brennan, R Lanigan; C O’Dea, P Lillis, A Sweeney; C O’Connor, D Bohannon; J Malone, E Cleary, D Coughlan; P Collins, E McMahon, G Cooney.
Subs: S Ryan, C Downes, M Garry, A Griffin, D Keating, M McInerney, D Nagle, B Rouine, C Russell, I Ugwueru, D Walsh.