Donegal go down fighting against Kildare

Plucky Donegal suffered an opening day defeat as they went down to  a strong Kildare in a hard fought first round league tie in O’Donnell Park on Sunday afternoon

Donegal . . . 1-13

Kildare . . . 2-16

Six points separated the sides at the finish. But the final margin was a little flattering to the Lilywhites who scored their second goal deep in injury time at the end of the game.

Donegal were in this tie well into the second half after leading by a point at half-time. It was only in the closing quarter that Kildare pulled away.

Donegal, with two debutantes starting and two more introduced in the course of the game, led by a point at the end of scrappy opening 35 minutes.

They broke from the blocks at lightning pace and had a goal and two points on the board to Kildare’s 0-1, inside five minutes.

Big Joe Boyle opened the scoring just over a minute into the game.

And two minutes later, Gavin Browne in an advanced position was alert when Kildare keeper Paddy McKenna failed to hold a long delivery to tap to the net for the Donegal goal.

Declan Coulter, with the first of his four first half long range frees, made it 1-2 to 0-1 before James Burke stroked over Kildare’s second point.

KIldare settled shortly after and began to apply pressure but a brilliant Paul Burns save from a Bryan Byrne penalty after eight minutes was a big moment in the half.

The Burt custodian dived full stretch to his right to bat away to safety and when from the clearance Ciaran Mathewson broke clear to point at the other end Donegal were four up for the first time.

But the lead was short-lived when Bernard Deay finished off a good Kildare move for a well worked goal.

And the visitors, who were having a good spell, were awarded a second penalty shortly after but McKenna blasted high over Paul Burns' crossbar again from the penalty spot.

The point was a let-off for Donegal and they responded well as they reeled off three points to Kildare’s one to open up a three point lead heading for half-time.  

But with Kevin Whelan opening up his shoulders for Kildare in the middle of the field, Brian Deay and Brian Byrne posted late points to reduce the Donegal half-time lead to one.

It was nip and tuck in the third quarter as Coulter, Kevin Kealy and Ciaran Mathewson all hit points for Donegal and Byrne and Caolan Smith responded for Kildare.

The sides were level going into the closing 15 minutes before Whelan took the game by the scruff of the neck.  The big midfielder capped a brilliant performance with four second half points to edge Kildare into the lead.

And with Deay, Rian Boran and second half substitute Barry McCormack all hitting the target, Kildare pulled away.

And they were four up, 1-16 to to 1-12, when Byrne pounced for Kildare's second goal deep in injury time.

Despite the defeat Donegal will draw great confidence from this performance against last year’s Christy Ring champions.

Declan Coulter once again top scored for Donegal and along with Joe Boyle - until he tired in the second half - Ciaran Mathewson, Stephen Gillespie, Jack O’Loughlin, Pauric Doherty and Paul Burns, all turned in performances they can be proud of.

St Eunan’s Kevin Kealy also scored two points on his debut while the other debutantes were Dylan Duffy - who also started - and Conor Parke and Oisin Rooney who were introduced in the course of the game.

Donegal are away to Derry in Owenbeg next week.

DONEGAL: Paul Burns; Mark Callaghan, Stephen Gillespie, Pauric Doherty; Ciaran Finn, Gavin Browne (1-0), Jack O’Laughlin; Joe Boyle (0-1), Declan Coulter(0-7, 4); Sean McVeigh, Danny Cullen, Ronan McDermott (0-1); Dylan Duffy, Ciaran Mathewson (0-3), Kevin Kealy (0-2).

Subs; Conor Parke for M Callaghan 9; Oisin Rooney for D Duffy h/t; Lee Henderson for G Browne 59.  

KILDARE: Paddy McKenna (0-1, 1pen); Cathal Derivan, John Doran, James Dolan; Diarmuid Cahill, Martin Fitzgerald, Rian Boran (0-1); Kevin Whelan (0-5), Ross Kelly; Paul Divilly (0-1), Brian Byrne (1-3, 3f) James Burke (0-1); Ryan Casey(0-1), Caolan Smith (0-2), Bernard Deay (1-1).

Subs: Conor Dowling for R Kelly 53; Barry McCormack (0-1) for R Casey 62; Reece Gavin for J Burke 69.

REFEREE; Sean Hynes (Galway)