Donegal 1-12 Kildare 0-14:It may not be have been pretty, but Donegal and Kildare served up perhaps the contest of the championship to date as the Ulster champions became the first team to reach the All-Ireland semi-finals this evening.
The pendulum swung this way and that before Kevin Cassidy struck the winning score with the last kick of the game, deep into injury time in extra-time.
Kildare had been forced to draw on all their reserves of stamina simply to force extra-time after trailing by three points as time ebbed away but once there the Lilywhites edged in front and looked like staying there.
Donegal, however, are nothing if not dogged and in a hugely dramatic finale first gained parity before Cassidy sent Jim McGuinness’s side into the last four.
The Ulster champions were dealt a blow before the throw-in when star forward Michael Murphy was deemed unfit to start. The Donegal captain sat out training during the week but was named at full-forward.
However, having been put through his paces during the warm-up Murphy’s hamstring problem flared up once more and he was forced to take a seat among the replacements, although he would take to the field before 30 minutes were on the clock.
Donegal’s blanket defence has managed to smother the attack of all-comers this season but Kildare needed less than two minutes to get on the scoreboard, Eoin O’Flaherty knocking it over for close range.
Thereafter, Kildare had to work extremely hard to find a way though a congested defence as Donegal funnelled all but two of their outfield players into their own half. O’Flaherty got another two scores himself while Eamonn Callaghan and Padraig O’Neill were also on target.
Donegal’s lack of ambition saw them notch just three points before the break, although they did have a goal chance expertly stopped by Shane Connolly, and manager Jim McGuinness saw fit to throw on Murphy despite the obvious concerns over his fitness.
Kildare, leading by two at the break, extended that advantage early in the second half and would have been five clear but for a disallowed goal. When Johnny Doyle’s long-range effort came back off the upright Tomás O'Connor pounced to finish but after initially raising the green flag the umpire then ruled the full-forward had been in the square.
Donegal made the most of the reprieve, with points from Murphy, Dermot Molloy, Ryan Bradley and Kevin Cassidey drawing them level before both defences re-exerted their dominance.
Something had to give, and within seconds of his introduction Christy Toye made what appeared to be a match-winning intervention. The substitute wasn’t picked up by the Kildare defence and was picked out with a long ball before firing expertly beyond Connolly.
Trailing by three, Kildare looked dead in the water but stuck to their task with O’Flaherty and James Kavanagh narrowing the margin before the former held his nerve to level matters deep into injury-time.
With the wind in their sails, Kildare pushed on in extra-time and were soon three points to the good. Murphy pegged them back with two scores, however, before Rory Kavanagh levelled matters and Cassidy sealed it with the last act of an extraordinary contest.