During the Leinster SFC quarter-final, Kildare secured a dramatic victory over Wicklow in the final moments of injury time, scoring 0-16 to Wicklow’s 1-12. Kildare, despite being two men down, triumphed due to a crucial point scored by Jack Sargent, coming after Wicklow missed a golden opportunity at the other end of the field.
Despite attempting to achieve consecutive provincial championship wins for the first time since 1989, Wicklow was left questioning missed opportunities. Had they been victorious, they would have created history by progressing to the Leinster semi-final. In this riveting match, Kildare had the advantage with a score of 0-15 to Wicklow’s 0-12 in the 2nd extra minute, despite Kevin Flynn being sent off in the 30th minute.
The climax of the match came when Eoin Doyle, Kildare’s centre back, conceded a penalty and received a black card after a desperate tackle on Kevin Quinn. Oisín McGraynor successfully dispatched the penalty beyond Mark Donnellan, creating an equal score and putting Wicklow in a strong position.
Yesterday’s turn of events was not in favour of Wicklow when Matt Nolan, the Wicklow wing-back, missed the goal by a hair’s breadth, shooting from over 45 metres out with Donnellan far from the goal.
The deciding moment came when Kildare moved the ball up the field and Niall Kelly passed it to Sargent, who netted the decisive point. Moments after, the referee blew the final whistle, leaving Wicklow players falling to the pitch in despair. Despite the chaos at the end, the competition was closely run throughout.
In the initial stages of the match, the Lilywhites had the upper hand, leveraging the wind in their favour. Glenn Ryan’s squad were effective in applying intense pressure on Shane Doyle’s kicks, causing Wicklow to fail in retaining control of the ball during their restarts.
There was a deficit of available options for Doyle from the Wicklow players, resulting in many of his kicks being elevated into unclaimed territories. One of the key contributors to Kildare’s early dominance was Feely, who kicked off the scoresheet with a well-executed left-footed shot in the second minute. His jubilation was evident as he clenched his fist in celebration the moment the ball left his foot.
Wicklow demonstrated potent threats in their offensive attacks, however retaining the ball and penetrating Kildare’s robust defence proved to be a significant challenge. The first half saw Kelly contributing two excellent points, one with each foot, expanding Kildare’s lead to 0-6 vs 0-3 at the 17-minute mark.
Although Wicklow stayed close with contributions from Patrick O’Keane and Darragh Fee, Kildare seemed to be in control even after their player count dropped to 14 when Kevin Flynn’s foul on O’Keane earned him a red card from referee Seán Lonergan. Despite this, Wicklow managed to outpoint Kildare 0-2 to 0-1 before half-time, closing the interval at 0-9 to 0-7 in favour of the Lilywhites, who were a man short.
However, Kildare didn’t lose their spirit in the second half and immediately wrested control, scoring the first three points thanks to Woodgate, Feely, and Kelly from Oisín McConville’s team.
Woodgate came on just before the interval in place of the injured Daniel Flynn, and Kildare sustained another blow when their skipper Mick O’Grady also got injured in the first half. Unfortunately, Wicklow had to contend with a torrential rainstorm at half-time which effectively made wind a non-factor in the match.
Despite this, Wicklow’s reaction to Kildare’s early second half rally showed conviction from the squad, and they managed two nice goals, reducing Kildare’s lead to three.
It looked likely that the lead would shrink to two when Christopher O’Brien won a 20 metre free directly in front of the goal following a foul by Doyle. However, Kevin Quinn’s attempt was unsuccessful, landing straight in the arms of Kildare’s goalie, Donnellan.
Kildare promptly moved the field and their subsequent assault resulted in Woodgate scoring a free at a close range from the opposite end of the field—a gain of two points.
As the match moved into added time, Kildare maintained their slight advantage and seemed to be winding down the clock when Quinn unexpectedly secured a penalty. This sparked the thrilling final moments which concluded with Sargent scoring the deciding goal.
The Kildare line-up was as follows: Mark Donnellan in goal; with Ryan Burke, Shea Ryan, and Mick O’Grady serving as defenders; Jack Sargent, Eoin Doyle, and Paddy McDermott in midfield; and Aaron Masterson, Kevin Flynn, Shane Farrell, Niall Kelly, Alex Beirne, and Kevin Feely making up the forward line. Daniel Flynn, who had to be replaced by Brian Byrne due to injury, also started the match; followed by Paddy Woodgate filling in for the injured D Flynn. Other substitutes included Tony Archbold for McDermott, Harry O’Neill for the injured Byrne, and Shane O’Sullivan for Farrell during various stages of the game.
The Wicklow squad featured Shane Doyle, Tom Moran who scored 0-1, Malachy Stone, Cillian McDonald and Darragh Fee who also scored 0-1. Patrick O’Keane achieved a score of 0-1, whilst Matt Nolan and Craig Maguire didn’t manage any points. Jack Kirwan was joined by Jonathan Carlin on the pitch, Dean Healy secured 0-2 and Gavin Fogarty was unable to add any points to the board. John Paul Nolan scored 0-1 while Kevin Quinn came in with 0-2, all from frees, and Christopher O’Brien also achieved a score of 0-2. Substitutes included Gearóid Murphy who landed 0-1, swapping with Carlin at 33 minutes into the match. Oisín McGraynor managed to bag 1-1, with a penalty and a free, replacing Maguire at 62 minutes and Joe Prendergast came on for Kirwan at 70 minutes. The referee for the game was Seán Lonergan hailing from Tipperary.