Two quick strikes saw Dublin ease past Kildare to capture their seventh consecutive Leinster Crown in 2017
Dublin 2-23
Kildare 1-17
Croke Park, July 16th 2017
Within 11 minutes of the Leinster Football Final in 2017, Dublin had put two goals past Kildare keeper Mark Donnelan and there was an air of inevitability about Jim Gavin’s men marching on to capture yet another provincial title.
Their opponents may have notched the first point of the game through Daniel Flynn inside the opening seconds. But when they shipped goals in the 10th minute to Dean Rock and less than a minute later to James McCarthy, the Lilywhites were in trouble.
Credit where it’s due, Kildare rallied impressively before the half time whistle. On 20 minutes they were trailing 2-04 to 0-01, but by the break they had cut that gap to 2-08 to 0-10.
But Dublin changed gears and took over from the start of the second period. Losing Rock in the 24th minute to a black card gave Con O’Callaghan an opportunity to step up as the dead ball specialist for the afternoon. His personal tally for the day ended at 0-12 with six of those from frees.
Bernard Brogan, who replaced Rock landed 0-05 of his own, all from play.
Kildare had the perfect goal in the 42nd minute when Daniel Flynn burst through but Stephen Cluxton was on hand to fend off the close range effort. At that stage of the game the score was 2-11 to 0-11, and Dublin would kick six of the next seven points to take the game completely out of Kildare’s grasp.
The Lillies continued to push despite the growing score margin, and in injury time they finally managed to raise a green flag. Paddy Brophy gathered a high delivery from Eamonn Callaghan and nudged it into the net.
The game ended with Dublin nine scores clear, claiming the seventh Leinster Championship in a row.
Scorers for Dublin:
Con O’Callaghan 0-12 (6f)
Bernard Brogan 0-05
James McCarthy 1-00
Dean Rock 1-00
Ciaran Kilkenny 0-02
Paul Mannion 0-01
Paddy Andrews 0-01
Shane Carthy 0-01
Brian Howard 0-01
Scorers for Kildare:
Paddy Brophy 1-03 (1f)
Kevin Feely 0-05 (4f)
Daniel Flynn 0-02
Cathal McNally 0-02
Johnny Byrne 0-01
Keith Cribbin 0-01
Niall Kelly 0-01
David Slattery 0-01
Fionn Dowling 0-01
Dublin:
1. Stephen Cluxton
22. Philly McMahon
6. Cian O’Sullivan
3. Michael Fitzsimons
4. Eric Lowndes
26. John Small
7. Jack McCaffrey
5. James McCarthy
8. Brian Fenton
12. Con O’Callaghan
9. Ciarán Kilkenny
10. Niall Scully
11. Paul Mannion
13. Paddy Andrews
15. Dean Rock
Dublin Substitutes:
18. Bernard Brogan for Rock (black card) (24)
20. Shane Carthy for Scully (47)
22. Darren Daly for McMahon (48)
23. Kevin McManamon for Andrews (51)
19. David Byrne for O’Sullivan (58)
21. Brian Howard for Fenton (67)
Kildare:
1. Mark Donnelan
2. Mark O’Grady
3. David Hyland
4. Ollie Lyons
5. Johnny Byrne
6. Eoin Doyle
7. Keith Cribbin
8. Kevin Feely
9. Tommy Moolick
10. Fergal Conway
11. Niall Kelly
12. David Slattery
13. Paddy Brophy
14. Daniel Flynn
15. Cathal McNally
Kildare Substitutes:
25. Paul Cribbin for Conway (44)
17. Fionn Dowling for Moolick (48)
18. Peter Kelly for Doyle (52)
26. Ben McCormack for McNally (57)
21. Emmet Bolton for Byrne (63)
19. Eamonn Callaghan for Feely (black card) (64)