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Dublin through to Leinster final

November 8, 2018

Dubs through to Leinster final

26 Jun 2011 | hill16.ie

DUBLIN 1-12 KILDARE 1-11

Dublin emerged from an intense Leinster Football semi-final as a controversial free from Bernard Brogan in added time denied a Kildare comeback in Croke Park.

Eamonn Callaghan’s fine goal and point in the final five minutes drew Kildare level with the Dubs, who had Eoghan O’Gara sent off in the early stages of the second period but in effectively the final play of the match Kildare corner-back Aindriu Mac Lochlainn was adjudged to have fouled Bernard Brogan for the Plunkett’s man to convert the winner.

Eoghan O’Gara was fouled inside the first minute to give Bernard Brogan a simple free for an early Dublin lead.

The opening minutes were hotly-contested with both defences coming out on top and it wasn’t that until the seventh minute that the next scoring chance emerged.O’Gara played an angled ball to Diarmuid Connolly, who turned Michael Foley with ease before dragging a shot at goal wide of the far post with his left foot.

The Dubs were showing plenty of patience with Connolly involved once again on 10 minutes as he fed Bryan Cullen to lob the ball over and double their lead.

Eoghan O’Flaherty started Kildare’s attacking initative with two points, including a fine score when he left James McCarthy trailing, turned and knocked it over.

Kildare were putting plenty of pressure on Dublin full and half-back lines with Kieran McGeeney’s men were having much of the play in the mid-point of the half and John Doyle and Eoghan O’Flaherty notching wides.

O’Gara was booked for persistent fouling as the Dubs struggled to find a rhythm that would be needed to carve up the stern Lilywhites. When scores are needed, Bernard Brogan is the man to go to and he brilliantly held off Ollie Lyons and drew a foul in front of the posts on 20 minutes. That brought the team level at 0-3 each.

The Brogans linked magnificently soon after with Alan doing the honours in front of the posts.

The game’s opening goal followed in the 24th minute as Paul Flynn first dispossessed Gary White before making a surging run towards the posts, first losing control of the ball, before gathering and firing it low into the net.

Dublin were warming to the task now with James McCarthy picking out Bernard Brogan and again a flawless shot from the 2010 Footballer of the Year split the posts.

Kieran McGeeney saw the need to make changes seven minutes before the break with Mac Lochlainn and Robbie Kelly on for Gary White and Alan Smith

Kildare stopped the rot with a free from John Doyle from 25 metres out to make it 1-05 to 0-04 as the game approached the half-hour mark.Brogan was looking imperious from play and frees and again profited after a foul on O’Gara 30 metres out.

Cluxton notched his first ‘45’ on the stroke of half-time to give Dublin a 1-07 to 0-04 lead at the break.

Michael Darragh Macauley picked up a compound fracture to his finger, which looks set to rule him out of the Leinster final, towards the end of the opening period so he had to be replaced by Eamon Fennell.

It took just 29 seconds for Eoghan O’Flaherty to get Kildare on the board in the second half. A bright start was vital and that score from O’Flaherty did help, although Ollie Lyons had to exit the match with a shoulder knock and Conor Brophy came in.

O’Gara was sent off on the 40th minute as he picked up a second yellow for fouling Brophy when competing for possession.It was a huge boost to Kildare and Eoghan O’Flaherty scored again soon after to cut the gap to four.Dublin showed their attacking threat as Alan Brogan got behind their defence and the onrushing Hugh McGrillen stopped the goal by clearing off the line. Robert Kelly cut back from 30 metres to knock the ball over the bar to make it a two-point game, before Flynn’s sublime curling point got the home support in Croke Park right behind the Dublin team.

Kelly was at it again on 48 minutes with the Dublin defence struggling to get the blocks in at the right time.

The game was so finely poised with just two points between the teams and Kildare using their numerical advantage relatively well at this stage.Bernard Brogan got the Dublin lead back to three points from a free with Emmet Bolton curling over a lovely shot a minute later to keep Kildare ticking over.

Cluxton knocked over another placed ball and shortly after Hugh McGrillen allowed the ball to bounce over his head leaving Alan and Bernard Brogan free on goal.

Alan opted to fist over for a point with the goal chance on in the middle for his brother, but a four-point lead with eight minutes to go was looking very healthy.

O’Neill’s shot for Kildare curled just wide of the post on 65 minutes, with 12 minutes having passed since the previous Lilywhite score. Eoghan O’Flaherty shot from a ‘45’ sailed wide with three minutes remaining and it looked as if Kildare now needed a goal.

Eamonn Callaghan stepped up to the mark. Callaghan’s classy run evaded several Dublin defenders and he placed a low shot into the corner of the net with Cluxton unable to connect at full stretch. And soon after the same Kildare player would level things up by turning sharply and taking the simple score as Hill 16 looked on in silence.

Kildare hearts were broken when Mac Lochlainn was adjudged to have fouled Bernard Brogan after a long ball forward. It looked a harsh decision with contact quite minimal. Kildare protested but the free was given and Brogan converted to seal the win for Dublin.

SCORERS – Dublin: B Brogan 0-6 (0-5f), P Flynn 1-1, S Cluxton (0-1f, 0-1 ‘45’), A Brogan 0-2 each, B Cullen 0-1. Kildare: E Callaghan 1-2, E O’Flaherty 0-4 (0-1f), R Kelly 0-2, R Sweeney, J Doyle (f), E Bolton 0-1 each
DUBLIN – S Cluxton; P Conlon, Rory O’Carroll, M Fitzsimons; J McCarthy, G Brennan, K Nolan; D Bastick, M Macauley; P Flynn, A Brogan, B Cullen; B Brogan, E O’Gara, D Connolly. Subs: E Fennell for Macauley (inj ht), K McManamon for Connolly (54), D Lally for Flynn (62), R McConnell for Bastick (66), B Cahill for Cullen (68)
KILDARE – S Connolly; M Foley, H McGrillen, O Lyons; E Callaghan, G White, E Bolton; J Doyle, H Lynch; M O’Flaherty, E O’Flaherty, P O’Neill; J Kavanagh, R Sweeney, A Smith. Subs: A Mac Lochlainn for White (29), R Kelly for Smith (29), C Brophy for Lyons (inj 39), S Hurley for Sweeney (48), T O’Connor for Hurley (65).
REF – C Reilly (Meath).
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