Byrne does ‘trick for Lilywhites
KILDARE 5-17
DERRY 1-15
JOHNNY BYRNE hit a hat-trick of goals at Hakwfiled as promotion-chasing Kildare cruised past Derry.
A former inter-county footballer with the Lilywhites, Byrne’s 3-4 tally supplemented additional three-pointers by James Burke and Conor Dowling as Kildare made it two wins in two games.
Despite the scoring prowess of Derry’ss Brian Cassidy, the influence of Paul Divilly and Brian Byrne ensured Kildare held a slender 0-6 to 0-5 lead at the first half water break. The sides were level six times early on, but David Herity’s Lilywhites eventually created daylight.
Superb goals from Burke and Byrne propelled them to a 2-10 to 0-10 interval cushion. A brace of Byrne majors followed after the resumption.
For the second week in succession, Dowling bagged a goal as a sub and while Cassidy shot a superb tally of 1-7, Derry will be facing a battle against relegation.
Scorers – Kildare: J Byrne 3-4; J Burke 1-1; C Dowling 1-0; B Byrne (3f), P Divilly 0-3 each; J Sheridan 0-2 (2f), T Forde, S Ryan, C Chan, D Slattery 0-1 each. Derry: B Cassidy 1-8 (0-2 s/lines), C O’Doherty 0-4 (3f, 1 ’65’), J Mullan, S McGuigan, S Cassidy 0-1 each.
KILDARE: P McKenna 7; C Derivan 7, R Boran 7, S Leacy 7; K Whelan 7, D Flaherty 8, S Christianseen 7; Cathal Dowling 6, P Divilly 8; K Aherne 7, J Burke 8, J Byrne 9; T Forde 7, J Sheridan 7, B Byrne 7. Subs: S Ryan 8 for Cathal Dowling (30), Conor Dowling 8 for T Forde, D Slattery 7 for Sheridan (both 47), C McCabe 7 for Aherne (49), C Chan 7 for Divilly, C Forde 6 for Christanseen (both 57), C Shanahan 6 for Burke (64).
DERRY: O O’Doherty 7; C Kelly 6, B McGilligan 6, D McCloskey 6; S Cassidy 6, J Mullan 7, M McGrath 6; E Cassidy 6, G Bradley 6; M McGuigan 6, C O’Doherty 7, R Mullan 6; O McKeever 6, B Cassidy 8, S McGuigan 6. Subs: S Cassidy for McKeever (47), C McAllister for R Mullan (55), D Foley for McGuigan (58).
REF – K Jordan (Tipperary).