Dublin 0-13 Kildare 0-11: If a journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step, it ends with another small one. Dublin aren't a thousand miles off an All-Ireland and yesterday's slightly surprising annexing of a second Leinster Under-21 championship in three years represents another yard or so of progress.
Dublin surprised themselves almost by seizing a late draw in Navan last week and with their most precocious forward Mark Vaughan red carded after another little cameo of poor discipline, it seemed unlikely that they would be within touching distance come the finish yesterday.
A decent result seemed all the more unlikely when they lost Dublin hurlers Ger O'Meara and Ronan Fallon from the starting line-up yesterday.
The odds lengthened from unlikely to well nigh impossible it seemed when, having opened up an eight-point lead on a curiously leaden Kildare side, they let the momentum go. Midway through the second half they also managed to lose their talented full back Willie Lowry to what TV cameras suggested was a somewhat harsh straight red card. Kildare got back to within a point and then saw the game slip away from them in dramatic fashion.
In the closing minutes Kildare burst through the Dublin defence with indignant fury and one sequence of attacking play saw a shot saved, a ball come off the bar and another one skite across the face of the goal - all within seconds. Nobody watching a listless first half would have guessed that this replay would lurch towards such a breathless climax. Kildare's start was so lackadaisical that they appeared to have gifted to Dublin the one thing you should never allow them have.
A confident swagger.
Dublin were busy and effective around the middle of the field and although starting without either Vaughan or O'Meara found to their pleasure that they could rely confidently on their replacements Kevin Leahy and Chris Moore who finished the afternoon having scored seven of Dublin's points between them.
Having fallen behind early in the game to a Michael Conway point, Dublin were permitted to reel off nine points without reply, the best of the bunch coming from Dublin's saviour in the first game, Daibheach Dineen. A Kildare goal chance was cleared out to the right to Danny McCann who made speedy progress down the wing before finding Dineen who cut inside and clipped a fine score under pressure.
By then, Dublin were looking irresistable, but late in the first half concentration snapped and Kildare were offered a chink of light by being permitted to help themselves to the last three scores of the half.
At the time of Lowry's dismissal Kildare were winning plenty in midfield and knocking out the wides as quickly as they scored the points. The final minutes looked as if they should inevitably produce a win for Kildare, but the old pedigree is hard to beat.
Bernard Brogan awoke and latched on to a long ball which he popped over as confidently as he might do in a pre-match warm-up. Dublin were two points clear again, there was a minute left and all the scoring was done.
The young Dubs move on to play Down in Navan next weekend. It remains to be seen what effect losing two players to straight red cards in a provincial final so proximate to the All-Ireland series has.
DUBLIN: M Savage; A Downes, W Lowry, D McCann; N Cooper, B Cullen, I Ward; E Fennell, B Phelan; K Leahy (0-5, 4 frees), D Dineen (0-1), C Moore (0-2); J O'Brien (0-2, 1 free), M Davoren (0-2), B Brogan (0-1). Subs: D O'Mahony for O'Brien (40 mins), R Fallon for Moore (54 mins), J Coughlan for Dineen (56 mins).
KILDARE: T Corley; I Lonergan, R Nevin, M Hogarty; M Scanlon, M Foley (0-1), J Lonergan; H Lynch, D Flynn; T O'Neill (0-3), P O'Neill (0-2), J Kavanagh; M Conway (0-3, 1 free), R Glavin, T Archibald. Subs: T O'Connor (0-1) for Lynch (23 mins), P Doyle (0-1) for Scanlon (23 mins), A Kelly for Conway (29 mins), Conway for Archibald (48 mins), P Ennis for Kavanagh (55 mins).
Referee: P Finnegan (Louth).
