Kildare 2-12 Cork 0-14
Two second-half goals gave Kildare a winning start to their Division 2 South league campaign against a Cork side which finished with 14 players in Thurles on Saturday.
They lost half-time substitute Brian Hartnett to a red card in injury-time and while Cork kicked the closing five points, Kildare were already well on their way to an impressive victory.
The opening goal came in the 50th minute, when Kevin Flynn powered through the defence after taking Darragh Kirwan’s pass to finish well for a 1-11 to 0-8 lead.
And the game was effectively settled 10 minutes later with Kildare’s second goal, which came from a miscued crossfield pass by Cork’s Ruairi Deane. On this occasion Jimmy Hyland benefited with a cool finish.
They didn’t score again, but their lead was never troubled despite four Cathal O’Mahony frees for Cork and another from substitute Ciarán Sheehan.
The first-half was a much tighter affair with Cork settling immediately by scoring the opening three points and leading by 0-4 to 0-1 after 10 minutes.
They became frustrated, however, with Kildare’s defensive set-up and could only add two more points in the remainder of the half to trail by 0-7 to 0-6 at the interval.
Daniel Flynn, Paul Cribbin and Darragh Kirwan caught the eye for Kildare in attack and while Daniel Flynn limped off with a hamstring injury on the half-hour, his replacement Neil Flynn was another to impress.
The third quarter was the decisive period as Kildare pulled away despite Brian Hurley levelling for Cork inside the first minute of the resumption.
They had edged 0-11 to 0-8 in front before striking for the all-important opening goal and then clinching the tie with their second.
Kildare: M Donnellan; M Dempsey, M O'Grady, E Doyle; K Flynn (1-0), D Hyland, R Houlihan; L Flynn (0-1), A Masterson; A Beirne, D Flynn (0-2), P Cribbin (0-2); J Hyland (1-2, two frees), K Feely, D Kirwan (0-2). Subs: N Flynn (0-3, two frees, one '45) for D Flynn injured 30 mins, C Kavanagh for Houlihan 52 mins, F Conway for L Flynn and C Hartley for Beirne 54 mins.
Cork: MA Martin; D O'Mahoney, S Meehan, K Flahive; P Walsh, S Powter, M Taylor; I Maguire (C), (0-2), K O'Driscoll (0-1); C O'Callaghan, S White, R Deane; J O'Rourke (0-2), B Hurley (0-2 frees), C O'Mahony (0-6 five frees). Subs: B Hartnett for O'Callaghan half-time, D Dineen for Hurley injured 43 mins, K O'Donovan for Powter and C Sheehan (0-1) for O'Driscoll 58 mins, B Murphy for Deane 61 mins, T Corkery for Maguire 66 mins.
Referee: M Deegan (Laois).
