Defeat in Newbridge leaves Carlow hurlers on the brink of relegation
Marty Kavanagh speaks to referee Niall Malone before he is shown a second yellow card during the defeat to Kildare
Carlow hurlers are staring down the barrel of relegation to Division 1B of the National League after being comprehensively outplayed by a confident Kildare outfit at Cedral St Conleth’s Park.
With wins against Antrim and Down already behind them, Brian Dowling’s side laid the platform with some superb long-range shooting to open up a half-time advantage of eleven points and three goals in the third quarter put the game to bed with the gap extending to seventeen points.
To their credit Carlow rallied and outscored the home side by eight points from there to the end despite the sending off of Marty Kavanagh for a second yellow card on 56 minutes, with substitute Paddy Boland proving to be a real thorn in the Kildare defence.
Carlow had been boosted by the inclusion of Kavanagh while they might have hoped Kildare would be weakened by the absence of suspended Jack Sheridan and their injured hat-trick hero from the week before against Down, Cathal Dowling.
But the home side made light of those absences and they settled quickly after Kavanagh opened the scoring. With a slight breeze behind them Kildare were 0-6 to 0-2 ahead by the eighth minute.
Points from Jack Treacy and Chris Nolan brought Carlow back to within two points before ‘keeper Brian Tracey poked the lively Muiris Curtin’s close-range effort out for a ’65.
Kildare, playing confident, expansive hurling against a more sluggish Carlow, went into overdrive between the 14th and 23rd minutes, outscoring their visitors by eight points to two to open up a 0-14 to 0-6 lead.
Kildare already had twelve points on the board before they shot their first wide in the 21st minute, and the quality of their shooting both from play and placed balls from their own half was outstanding with David Qualter deadly accurate on frees and wing-back Paul Dolan almost effortlessly shooting four first-half points.
Carlow themselves were unerring when opportunities did present themselves and it was 25 minutes before Kavanagh shot their opening wide though the fact that was only their seventh shot at the target told its own story.
Treacy did well again to deny Tim Ryan from a low drive, but Kildare reached the interval with a nine-point advantage (0-17 to 0-8).
Carlow were back on the pitch quickly after the interval but 2-2 without reply at the start of the half put paid to any comeback hopes with Daire Guerin’s emphatic finish rounding off a flowing move involving Cathal McCabe and Curtin on 37 minutes and McCabe himself netting after Simon Leacy’s incursion from deep six minutes later.
Substitute Boland gave Carlow a boost when he netted from the rebound after goalkeeper Paddy McKenna was caught off-balance in trying to keep Kavanagh’s long-range effort out, but Curtin followed up immediately with Kildare’s third goal on 50 minutes with Carlow struggling to clear their lines.
The away side battled bravely from there to the end despite their numerical disadvantage, outscoring Kildare 0-11 to 0-3 in the final twenty minutes, with the home side struggling to find their accuracy from the first half in racking up nine second half wides.
Carlow might have had another couple of goals, but Dolan and McKenna denied Chris Nolan from close range frees and the home goalkeeper also pulled off a top-class point blank save to deny Boland his second goal at the death.
While Kildare retain a mathematical chance of pipping Dublin and Wexford to promotion, Carlow’s situation now looks perilous with Pat Bennett’s side needing Down to do them a favour by beating Antrim. That in itself may not be enough due to scoring difference with Carlow most likely also having to beat Dublin at home to retain their status.
Paddy McKenna; Liam O’Reilly, Rian Boran, Simon Leacy; Paul Dolan 0-4, Cian Boran, Dan O’Meara; Daire Guerin 1-0, Conan Boran 0-1; Cathal McCabe 1-1, Gerry Keegan 0-2, Tim Ryan 0-1; David Qualter 0-10 (9fs,1’65), Muiris Curtin 1-2, James Dolan 0-1. Subs: Harry Carroll for McCabe 49, Caolan Smith for J Dolan 52, Darragh Melville for Conan Boran 66, Cathal Derivan for O’Reilly 69, Evan O’Briain for Guerin 70.
: Brian Tracey; Niall Bolger, Tadhg O’Neill, Paidí O’Shea; Fiach O’Toole 0-1, Kevin McDonald, Eric English; Kevin Kavaangh, Fiachra Fitzpatrick 0-1; Jon Nolan 0-2, Donagh Murphy 0-1, John Michael Nolan; Marty Kavanagh 0-6 (5fs), Jack Treacy 0-2, Chris Nolan 0-5 (2fs,1’65). Subs: Colm Beck for K Kavanagh 23, Conaill Fitzpatrick for English 43, Paddy Boland 1-1 for JM Nolan 43, Ciaran Whelan for O’Neill 57, Colm Kavanagh for Murphy 66.
Niall Malone (Clare).
