Allianz Football League Division Two

KILDARE 1-21 CAVAN 0-20

By Ger McNally at St Conleth's Park

Jimmy Hyland scored 0-9 as Kildare eased their Division 2 relegation worries with a win over Cavan in a high scoring affair at St Conleths Park today.

Hyland was the star in a Kildare attack that also saw a hugely promising senior debut from Darragh Kirwan but Jack O’Connor was concerned afterwards with the manner in which his team tired in the final quarter, albeit understandable given the current circumstances.

When Fergal Conway’s 52nd minute goal was followed by points from Kevin Flynn and Jimmy Hyland, Kildare carried a ten point lead into the water break, 1-18 to 0-11, but Cavan came storming back in the final stages.

Indeed, they had a glorious goal scoring chance in injury time when there were just three points between the sides but Chris Conroy’s pass was just out of the reach of Niall Murray. Cavan also saw a first half penalty saved when Martin Reilly’s effort was pushed away by Mark Donnellan so although Kildare were deserving winners in the end Cavan were left to rue those key moments.

With Hyland scoring three points, Kildare raced into a 05 to 0-2 lead by the 0-11 minute but led by Gearoid McKiernan, Cavan grew into the game and were level at 0-8 each by the 26th minute.

Kildare kicked on again to lead by 0-13 to 0-9 at half time, although the scores could have been closer had Reilly converted his penalty during that period after Padraig Faulkner had been fouled by David Hyland.

Jack O’Connor’s men really took hold of the game in the third quarter and outscore Cavan by 1-5 to 0–2 during that spell, and really should have scored more than one goal during that time to really kill off the game.

The second half water break came at a bad time for them and when the play resumed Cavan got themselves back within touching, thanks in part to the excellent free taking of Conroy, but their comeback fell just short and both teams now find themselves in a group of six teams separated by two points heading into the final round.

Scorers for Kildare: Jimmy Hyland 0-9 (5fs, 1m), Darragh Kirwan 0-4, Fergal Conway 1-0, Kevin Flynn 0-3, Ben McCormack 0-2, Kevin Feely, Paul Cribbin, Liam Power 0-1 each.

Scorers for Cavan: Chris Conroy 0-8 (7fs), Gearoid McKiernan 0-5 (2fs), Caoimhan McGovern and Conor Smith 0-2 each, Oisin Kiernan, Cormac O'Reilly, and Cormac Timoney (m) 0-1 each.

KILDARE: Mark Donnellan; Eoin Doyle, Mick O'Grady, Shea Ryan; David Hyland, Con Kavanagh, Kevin Flynn; Kevin Feely, Aaron Masterson; Paul Cribbin, Paddy Brophy, Liam Power; Jimmy Hyland, Darragh Kirwan, Ben McCormack.

Subs: Fergal Conway for Power (47), Neil Flynn for Paul Cribbin (58), Keith Cribbin for Kavanagh (61), Eanna O'Connor for Brophy (63), Tommy Moolick for Kirwan (69).

CAVAN: Raymond Galligan; Jason McLoughlin, Martin Reilly, Killian Brady; Gerard Smith, Ciaran Brady, Cormac Timoney; Gearoid McKiernan, Padraig Faulkner; Evan Doughty, Oisin Kiernan, Oisin Brady; Cormac O'Reilly, Conor Smith, Chris Conroy.

Subs: Conor Madden for Doughty (44), Luke Fortune for O Brady (45), Caoimhan McGovern for Reilly (54), Bryan Magee for Smith (58), Niall Murray for O'Reilly (70+1).

REFEREE: C Reilly (Meath).