Kildare rout Donegal
ALLIANZ NHL DIV 2B
KILDARE 4-29
DONEGAL 0-14
By Daire Walsh
KILDARE kick-started their league campaign with a clinical 27-point victory over Donegal at St Conleth’s Park, Newbridge on Saturday.
Despite being idle for last weekend’s opening round of a five-team Division 2B, David Herity’s men raced six points clear in the early exchanges and never looked back. A stoppage-time penalty from James Burke – after Donegal corner-back Mark Callaghan was sin-binned – helped the Lilywhites to establish a 1-12 to 0-5 interval buffer.
Burke added his second goal on the resumption, before goals from Johnny Byrne and Conor Dowling three-pointers eased the hosts to victory. Dowling and his fellow substitutes chipped in with 1-7 between them.
SCORERS – Kildare: B Byrne 0-11 (7f, 2 ’65’); J Burke 2-1 (1-0 pen); J Byrne 1-3; Conor Dowling 1-1 (0-1f); P Divilly, K Aherne, C Smith 0-3 each; S Whelan 0-2; D Flaherty, C Kielty 0-1 each. Donegal: D Coulter 0-7 (7f), C Mathewson (3f), D Cullen 0-3 each, N Cleary 0-1.
KILDARE – P McKenna 7; C Derivan 7, R Boran 7, S Leacy 7; K Whelan 7, D Flaherty 9, S Christansen 7; Cathal Dowling 7, P Divilly 8; K Aherne 8, J Byrne 9, J Burke 8; T Forde 7, S Ryan 7, B Byrne 8. Subs: C Chan 7 for Dowling, C McCabe 7 for Forde (both 45), Conor Dowling 7 for Ryan (48), C Forde 6 for Whelan, C Smith 8 for Burke (both 54), S Whelan 7 for Divilly, C Kielty 7 for B Byrne (60), J Dolan for Flaherty (62-63, blood sub).
DONEGAL – L White 7; G Browne 5, S Gillespie 6, M Callaghan 5; C McDermott 6, S McVeigh 5, M O’Donaghue 5; D Coulter 7, C Matthewson 6; D Cullen 8, R Ryan 5, J O’Loughlin 6; B Lafferty 5, R McDermott 6, G Gilmore 6. Subs: P Doherty 6 for Browne (h-t), N Cleary 6 for McDermott, C O’Grady 5 for O’Donaghue, J Cronolly McGhee 6 for Lafferty (all 49), R Campbell 5 for Ryan (58), O Grant 6 for Coulter (60), D Duffy 5 for Gilmore (67).
REF – C Mooney (Dublin).