Gaelic Games

Division Three roundup: Sligo stun Kildare with late goal

Longford end Tipperary’s 100 per cent record as Offaly edge Clare with injury time flurry

Sligo’s Kevin McDonnell hit a late goal for his team on Sunday. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Sligo’s Kevin McDonnell hit a late goal for his team on Sunday. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Sun Mar 13 2016 - 21:21

Sligo 2-15 Kildare 2-14

Sligo manager Niall Carew came back to haunt his home county as his side ended Kildare's 100 per cent start to the Division Three campaign in St Conleth's Park.

Kevin McDonnell’s 67th minute goal proved decisive in a second half that saw four goals and a red card.

The sides were tied at 0-7 at half time but the game exploded into life when Kyle Cawley and Padraig O’Neill scored goals at either end in the space of 30 seconds in the 39th minute.

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Kildare got on top after Eamonn Callaghan’s 45th minute goal but they were reduced to 14 men when Adam Tyrrell picked up second yellow card eight minutes later.

That changed the course of the game and McDonnell’s late strike sealed the win for last year’s Connacht finalists.

Sligo: A Devaney; C Harrison, K McDonnell 1-0, D Maye; Kyle Cawley, Brendan Egan 0-1, G O'Kelly-Lynch; A McIntyre 0-1, N Murphy 0-10 (5fs,2'45); N Ewing, C Breheny, C Davey; Keelan Cawley 1-1, P Hughes 0-2, B Egan. Subs: P Clarke for Brian Egan, 64; D Rooney for Ewing, 68 BC; N Gaughan for Keelan Cawley, 70 BC; S Henry for Davey, 70.

Kildare: M Donnellan; O Lyons, D Hyland, C Fitzpatrick; E Bolton, F Conway, E Powderly; K Feely, T Moolick 0-2; A Tyrell 0-2 (1f), N Kelly 0-3, M Byrne 0-1; P O'Neill 1-1, É O'Connor 0-3 (2fs), E Callaghan 1-0. Subs: C O'Donoghue for Bolton, 34; C McNally for M Byrne, h/t; J Byrne 0-1 for Conway, 47; E O'Flaherty 0-1f for O'Connor, 50; A Smith for O'Neill, 55; P Kelly for Fitzpatrick, 68

Ref - Noel Mooney (Cavan)

Longford 1-17 Tipperary 1-11

For the second week in succession, Longford clocked up the impressive tally of 1-17 and their latest victory in the National League at Pearse Park on Sunday moves the midlanders into contention for promotion.

Previously unbeaten Tipperary, who trailed by 0-10 to 0-7 at the break, made a strong start to the second half with a Conor Sweeney point, along with a goal from Jason Lonergan which put them in front, and they were looking the likely winners at this stage.

But Longford refused to be rattled and went on to enjoy a glorious spell in the final quarter of this entertaining contest to shoot five points in a row - three from Brian Kavanagh frees with Barry McKeon and James McGivney also on target.

Kavanagh and McGivney were in excellent form for the home county, clocking up 13 points between them, and deep into stoppage time Longford made absolutely certain of the vital win with a goal from substitute Larry Moran.

Tipperary ended up with 14 players on the pitch when defender Shane Leahy was sent-off for a second yellow card offence in the 66th minute while losing ace attacker Conor Sweeney was a big blow after he received a black card in the 45th minute.

LONGFORD: P Collum; D Brady, B Gilleran, D Masterson; CP Smyth, D McElligott, D Reynolds; M Quinn, D Gallagher (0-1); R Smyth, J McGivney (0-5), B McKeon (0-1); L Connerton (0-1), B Kavanagh (0-8, 5f); M Hughes (0-1).

Subs:- L Moran (1-0) for M Hughes (65 mins); F Battrim for D Reynolds (67 mins); B Farrell for R Smyth (67 mins); S Kenny for M Quinn (bc, 69 mins); R Connor for L Connerton (stoppage time).

TIPPERARY: C Kendrick; D Leahy, A Campbell, C McDonald; J Feehan, R Kiely, S Leahy; A Moloney, M Dunne; J Keane, P Acheson, J Lonergan (1-1); C Sweeney (0-5, 3f), M Quinlivan (0-5, 2f), P Austin.

Subs:- C O’Shaughnessy for D Leahy (32 mins); I Fahey for J Keane (h-t); L Casey for C Sweeney (bc, 45 mins); K Fahey for J Feehan (50 mins); B Hewitt for J Lonergan (63 mins).

Referee: S McLoughlin (Donegal).

Offaly 0-15 Clare 1-11

A thrilling National Football League encounter in Tullamore on Sunday ended with Offaly claiming two crucial points thanks to a great score from Michael Brazil deep into injury time.

Lengthy injury treatment to Offaly corner forward Bernard Allen resulted in seven minutes injury time being played and five of them had elapsed when Brazil arrowed over the winner with his left foot.

It was a close run thing for Offaly though who looked like they might be denied when Clare corner forward, Eoin Cleary scored a dramatic equalising goal with less than a minute of normal time left, after being twice denied by fantastic saves from Alan Mulhall.

Offaly’s win was deserved though and over the course of the game, they were marginally the better side. They played some good football in a very exciting first half and their 0-8 to 0-5 half time lead was a fair reflection of things.

The second half was very much a case of swings and round abouts.

Clare cut the deficit with a Jamie Malone point but Offaly got four of the next five points to lead by 0-12 to 0-7 with 47 minutes gone.

They were in control but Clare got the next three points to bring it down to the wire as a nerve tingling closing quarter provided fine entertainment with home midfielder Eoin Carroll sent off in injury time for a second yellow card that came too late to have any real bearing on the outcome.

Offaly: A Mulhall; B Darby, E Rigney, S Pender; N Darby, J Moloney, J O'Connor (0-1); E Carroll, J Gethings; G Guilfoyle (0-2), M Brazil (0-2), C McNamee (0-1); B Allen (0-4, 2f), N Dunne (0-3), N McNamee.

Subs - J Maher (0-1, f) for Allen (50m), A Sullivan (0-1) for Guilfoyle (56m), S Doyle for C McNamee (70m), R McNamee for N McNamee (75m).

Clare: J Hayes; S Malone, K Hartnett, M McMahon; J Malone (0-2), G Kelly, C O'Dea; G Brennan (0-1), C O'Connor; S Collins (0-1), S McGrath, P Lillis; E Cleary (1-1), E Coughlan (0-1), D Turbidy (0-4, 3f). Subs - D Ryan for Lillis (29m), K Sexton for McGrath (H/t), P Burke (0-1) for Collins (Black card, 38m), G Kelly for Coughlan (60m), S Haugh for Hartnett (76m).

Referee - B Cawley (Kildare).