Minor footballers defeated by Kildare

KILDARE 3-16 DUBLIN 3-13

Dublin's Leinster minor football dream perished in Sunday's provincial semi-final at Croke Park.

The Dubs finished in a flurry late on but had left themselves with too much ground to make up as a more economical Kildare attack, particularly their inside line, led the Lilywhites to victory.

It started well for Dublin with goals from Tom Fox (fifth minute) and Shane Howard, following good work by Cormac Howley (in the 13th minute) helped Paddy Christie's side to a 2-2 to 0-4 advantage by the 17th minute.

In fact the Dubs should have held a stronger lead but some wayward shooting let them down.

Before the interval Kildare had taken control with Matthew Kelly's 26th minute thunderbolt bring the sides level, 2-4 to 1-7, but the Lilies soared into a 2-11 to 2-5 half-time lead courtesy of Rory Feely's controversial 30th minute penalty.

Dublin goalkeeper Evan Comerford looked to be initially fouled in his small square before ref Patrick Maguire decided to award a penalty for overcarrying by the Ballymun Kickhams netminder and Kildare took full advantage.

Twelve minutes into the second half Jimmy Hyland's goal left Dublin with a mountain to climb as Kildare moved 3-14 to 2-8 clear.

Dublin battled to the finish with both Howley and Kevin Kindlon kicking a brace of scores but the goal the needed did not come until three minutes into added time when Paddy Small emphatically converted a penalty following a foul on Donal McIlghorm.

SCORERS - Kildare: J Hyland 1-3 (0-2f), M Kelly 1-2, R Feely 1-1 (1-0 pen), C Hartley, C Kelly (0-1f) 0-3 each, E O'Donoghue 0-2, R Shea, S Lawlor 0-1 each. Dublin: S Howard 1-4, P Small 1-2 (1-0 pen), T Fox 1-0, C Howley, J Kindlon 0-2 each, J Holland, D Keating (0-1f), C Pearson 0-1 each.

KILDARE: D Campbell; R Slattery, M Joyce, D Lawlor; G Burke, S Ryan, J Healy; D Courtney, R Feely; E O'Donoghue, C Hartley, B McLoughlin; C Kelly, M Kelly, J Hyland. Subs: S Healy for J Healy (41), S Lawlor for McLoughlin (47), K O'Callaghan for Courtney (58), R Bannon for Lawlor (60), E O'Neill for Joyce (62, bc).

DUBLIN: E Comerford; D Byrne, P O'Hanlon, J Holland; C Kavanagh, B Howard, T O'Sullivan; A Elliott, D McIlgorm; T Fox, S Howard, C Pearson; P Small, C Howley, D Keating. Subs: A Bradshaw for Pearson (28), G McNamara for O'Sullivan (ht), J Kindlon for Keating (ht), O Kelly for Fox (47), D O'Brien for Holland (58), C Kelly for Kindlon (60, bc).

REF: P Maguire (Longford).