Kildare 2-19
Mayo 2-18

A last-gasp Paddy Brophy point gave Kildare a dramatic victory over Mayo in Newbridge.

Last year's beaten All-Ireland finalists Mayo looked to have earned a share of the spoils when two Kevin McLoughlin points brought the sides level for a seventh time in injury-time, but there was still time for the outstanding Brophy to win it for Jason Ryan's men with a tremendous score from near the right sideline.

The Lilywhites led by 1-11 to 0-10 at half-time thanks to a Tomas O'Connor goal, but they couldn't get away from a new-look Mayo side who contributed handsomely to what was a cracking game for this time of the year.

A frantic first half produced 22 scores and a couple of black cards for Paul Cribbin (Kildare) and Aidan O'Shea (Mayo). Kevin McLoughlin gave the Connacht champions an early lead before Paddy Brophy and Paul Cribbin replied for the home side.

It was 0-4 apiece when Cribbin was dismissed in the 15th minute, but his replacement David Hyland made an immediate impact by putting the Lilywhites in front. But Mayo had regained parity at 0-6 each before goalkeeper Robert Hennelly landed his third '45' and Lee Keegan and Adam Gallagher added points to push them into a 0-9 to 0-6 lead.

However, the hosts then took control with a point from Cathal McNally before Tomas O'Connor - who was a late call-up to the Kildare team along with Ollie Lyons - won possession under pressure and showed great strength to hold off his opponent and crash that ball to the net in the 29th minute.

That gave the Lilywhites a 1-8 to 0-10 lead, and they moved further ahead with scores from McNally, Darroch Mulhall and McNally again. Mayo's woes were compounded when midfielder O'Shea was black carded on the stroke of half-time.

Brophy and Jason Gibbons traded scores on the restart before Brophy extended the O'Byrne Cup winners' lead to 1-12 to 0-10. But Mayo got back on terms with quick-fire goals from Gibbons and Darren Coen, 2-10 to 1-13.

Kildare regained the lead through an Eoghan O'Flaherty major but Diarmuid O'Connor had the sides level again on 2-15 apiece, only for O'Flaherty to edge the hosts ahead again with eight minutes remaining.

But in a gripping finale, Kildare won out to claim the two precious points on offer.

Kildare - S Connolly; M O'Grady, M Foley, O Lyons; K Murnaghan, E Bolton, P Cribbin (0-1); T Moolick, G White; C McNally (0-3), E O'Flaherty (1-2), S Hurley (0-1); P Brophy (0-6), T O'Connor (1-1), D Mulhall (0-3, 2f). Subs: D Hyland (0-1) for Cribbin (BC), F Conway for Lyons, H McGrillen (0-1) for Bolton, D Flynn for Moolick, M Conway for White.

Mayo - R Hennelly (0-3'45); K Keane, G Cafferkey, C Boyle; L Keegan (0-1), S McHale (0-1), B Harrison; T Parsons, A O'Shea (0-1); C Carolan, K Higgins, A Gallagher (0-3, 1f); K McLoughlin (0-8, 5f), A Moran, D Coen (1-0). Subs: J Gibbons (1-0) for Parsons, B Gallagher for O'Shea (BC), D Drake for Harrison, D O'Connor (0-1) for Coen, A Freeman for Higgins, E Varley for Gallagher.

Referee - R Hickey. Tweet

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