O’Toole stars for Westmeath but Lilywhites edge it in Croker
Leinster senior football championship semi-final: Kildare 1-21, Westmeath 2-15
In what was almost an identical scoreline to yesterday’s drawn Leinster SHC clash between Westmeath and Wexford (2-15 to 0-21), a first half goal from Kildare’s Jimmy Hyland turned out to be the difference in Croke Park today, as a spirited Lake County narrowly missed out on a Leinster SFC final spot.
The Tailteann Cup now beckons for Jack Cooney’s charges, but they made little of their underdog status in HQ this afternoon, with all but one score from their decent return of 2-15 coming from play. Kildare will have to ponder long and hard about this statistic, as they prepare to face a revitalised Dublin in the Leinster decider on May 28.
Ultimately, the Lilywhites got over the line thanks to a superb attacking display from corner forward Hyland, who finished the game with 1-4.
But Westmeath had their own stars on the field, with the St Loman’s, Mullingar trio of Ronan O’Toole, John Heslin and Sam McCartan kicking 1-11 between them – 1-3 of that from the lively O’Toole, who got Westmeath out of the traps after 15 seconds, finding the net after being set free of the Kildare defence following some good work by Ronan Wallace.
Kildare got their bearings however, with Hyland’s goal spurring them on to an eventual six-point lead. However, Jamie Gonoud struck for a second goal on 33 minutes, and by half-time, Westmeath trailed by only four points (1-13 to 2-6) and remained in contention.
The Maroons faded somewhat in the third quarter, with a hat-trick of scores from Darragh Kirwan earning Kildare a seven-point lead (1-19 to 2-9).
But in the final quarter, Westmeath started getting the breaks and outscored Kildare 0-5 to 0-1, with O’Toole, McCartan (0-2 each) and Heslin contributing to the late surge.
However, there wasn’t enough time for the 2015 and 2016 finalists to conjure an equalising goal.
Kildare: Mark Donnellan; Mike Joyce, Shea Ryan, Mick O'Grady; Tony Archbold (0-1), James Murray, Kevin Flynn (0-1); Kevin Feely, Kevin O'Callaghan; Alex Beirne (0-1), Ben McCormack (0-5, 1m), Paul Cribbin (0-1); Darragh Kirwan (0-5, 1f), Daniel Flynn (0-2, 1m), Jimmy Hyland (1-4, 1f). Subs: Paddy McDermott for Cribbin (49), David Hyland for Joyce (54), Fergal Conway for O'Callaghan (58), Neil Flynn (0-1f) for Hyland (61), Aaron Masterson for Feely (69).
Westmeath: Jason Daly; Jack Smith, Kevin Maguire, David Giles; Nigel Harte (0-1), Ronan Wallace, Jamie Gonoud (1-0); Ray Connellan (0-2), Sam McCartan (0-4); Jonathan Lynam, Ronan O'Toole (1-3), David Lynch; Ger Egan, John Heslin (0-4, 1f), Alex Gardiner. Subs: Luke Loughlin (0-1) for Lynam (34), Sam Duncan for Gardiner (49), James Dolan for Lynch (55), Kieran Martin for Egan (62), Robbie Forde for Giles (68).
Ref: Sean Hurson (Tyrone).