It wasn’t a bad advertisement for the championship last Saturday night in Tullamore. Given that the Dubs sit waiting, the level of abandon in the dying minutes gave the lie to any notion that one or other side might be inclined towards a discreet dive. Both will be the better for it.
Jason Ryan deserves plenty of credit for steering Kildare through the drawn game. The best version of his team badly needs Niall Kelly and Tommy Moolick and he made sure they were on the pitch when the game was being decided. They will both come on for the run, and the more of them Kildare see, the better their chances.
Laois, frankly, made a bit of a shambles of this last week. Not closing out that game from three points up with the wind advantage close home was careless in the extreme.
You could see it slipping from them, though, particularly as Moolick started doing a number on their midfield and Donie Kingston started moving further and further away from goal in search of the ball. To win here, they need to stick to what they're good at.
Kildare are still a bit below full-strength but they might just have taken more from the draw. We’ll give them a small nod.
Last meeting: June 13th, 2015, Leinster SFC quarter-final, O'Connor Park - Kildare 0-16 Laois 0-16.
Match odds: Kildare evens, Laois 6/5, Draw 15/2.
Injuries: No new injuries since last week.
Just the ticket: Stand €15; Terrace €10; Student and seniors can get a €5 rebate.
Verdict: Kildare.
LAOIS: Graham Brody; Damien O'Connor, Mark Timmons, Stephen Attride; Darren Strong, Robbie Kehoe, Colm Begley; Brendan Quigley, John O'Loughlin; Niall Donoher, Conor Boyle, Evan O'Carroll; Ross Munnelly, Donal Kingston, Tom Shiel.
KILDARE: Mark Donnellan; Ciaran Fitzpatrick, Mick O'Grady, Ollie Lyons; Kevin Murnaghan, Fergal Conway, Emmet Bolton; Gary White, Paul Cribbin; Padraig O'Neill, Eoghan O'Flaherty, Cathal McNally; Eamonn Callaghan, Alan Smith, Padraig Fogarty.
Referee: Anthony Nolan (Wicklow).
