Kildare edge out Dubs in titanic Leinster MHL final

Sat, 1st April 2017

Kildare and Dublin played out a pulsating Leinster MHL final at Abbotstown on Saturday afternoon with the Lilywhites prevailing 3-16 to 1-20 after two periods of extra-time.

In this 90-plus minute thriller it was Ciaran Tobin's goal for Kildare, from a '65', that eventually settled the issue against a Dublin side comprising of under-17 players.

In normal time Klidare held a 1-7 to 0-7 lead at the break with Billy Ryan, Sean Kinsella, Luke McDwyer and Sean Lambe among the Dublin scorers.

With the breeze at their back Fintan Clandillon's (pictured, above) side very well with points from sub Enda O'Donnell and Jason Byrne.

The game ebbed and flowed and with ten minutes of normal time remaining the sides were deadlocked following Dublin points from Billy Ryan and Jason Byrne.

A long range free in the dying embers from Cian Derwin edged Dublin in front but Kildare showed great mettle to force the game into the first installment of extra-time with a Brian Tobin equalizer.

At the end of the two periods of ten minutes of extra-time the counties still could not be separated so two periods of five minutes followed.

The drama did not let up either before the Lilywhites finally sealed victory with Ciaran Tobin's late goal with Rian Boran enjoying a stellar game for the eventual winners.

SCORERS - Kildare: C Tobin 1-7 (0-6f), S Cullen 2-0 (1-0f), R Boran 0-4, B Tobin 0-3, R Goodfellow, K Aherne 0-1 each. Dublin: J Byrne 1-4 (0-1f), C Derwin 0-5 (0-3f, 0-1 '65'), B Ryan 0-4 (0-1f), L McDwyer, S Kinsella (0-1f) 0-2 each, E O'Donnell, S Lambe, E O'Donnell 0-1 each.

KILDARE: M Doyle; E Prizeman, R Hogan, P Hogan; H Carroll, J Dolan, L Conroy; R Boran, S MacDonnacha; K Aherne, C Tobin, L O'Flynn; S Cullen, A Deegan, B Tobin. Subs: R Monaghan for Conroy, A Bergin for Aherne, M Barea for MacDonnacha, P O'Neill for Deegan.

DUBLIN: J Rooney; K Reddy, J Mowlds, D Bergin; H Sviglinskas, R Ward, M Grogan; A Hatt, S Kinsella; K Desmond, B Ryan, A Carroll; C Berigan, L McDwyer, S Lambe. Subs: E O'Donnell for Kinsella, J Byrne for C Berigan, T Kehoe for Carroll, C Derwin for Lambe, K Kirwan for McDwyer.