Kildare booked another comfortable win in the O’Byrne Cup tonight by handing John Maughan’s Offaly side a 1-20 to 0-11 defeat at Faithful Fields.

The Lilywhites were led by the accurate shooting of ex-U20 star Jimmy Hyland during the first-half as he registered six points to help them towards a commanding 1-14 to 0-4 half-time lead.

Padraig Fogarty struck the game’s only goal right on the eve of half-time to practically kill off the contest and second-half scores from Fionn Dowling, David Malone and Eoghan O'Flaherty did exactly that as the home side were simply outclassed.

In Enniscorthy, Wexford made it two wins from two in their pre-season after seeing off the challenge of Laois on a 2-13 to 1-11 score-line.

The opening half hour of this contest had been airtight as the teams were deadlocked on 0-5 each before Robert Frayne's rocket hit the net and sent the Model men in up by three at the break.

Eoin Lowry’s frees helped Laois trim the difference back to one but they couldn’t get level and paid another heavy price when Niall Hughes backed up Ben Brosnan’s point with a superb goal with 10 minutes left on the clock.

John Sugrue’s men pulled back a major of their own through sub Mark Keogh but it was a case of too little, too late as they fell to their second defeat in six days.

Kildare - M Donnellan; J O'Toole, M Barrett, D J Earley; J Gibbons, J Murray, K Cribbin; P Cribbin, T Moolick; E O'Flaherty (0-2), P Nash (0-1), A Tyrrell (0-4, 2f); J Hyland (0-6, 2f), B McCormack (0-2), P Fogarty (1-2, 0-1'45). Subs: B McLoughlin for B McCormack, F Dowling (0-1) for P Cribbin, D Malone (0-1) for K Cribbin, N Flynn for J Hyland, P Connell for E O'Flaherty, A Masterson (0-1) for T Moolick, E O'Flaherty for P Nash, T Moolick for P Fogarty.

Offaly - B Rohan; D Dempsey, D Hogan, E Rigney; C Donohue, P McConway, J O'Connor; C Mangan, A Leavy; N Bracken, A Sullivan (0-1), R McNamee; B Allen (0-3, 2f), J Moloney (0-3), S Tierney (0-4, 2f). Subs: M Abbott for R McNamee, D Fleming for N Bracken, K Higgins for C Mangan, PJ Daly for J O'Connor, C Carroll for A Leavy, R McNamee for A Sullivan.

Referee - M Deegan.

**

Wexford - C Swaine; M Furlong, G Sheehan, C Carty; G Malone, S Doyle, M O’Connor; B O’Connor (0-2), N Hughes (1-0); C Devitt, J Bealin (0-3, 2f), R Frayne (1-0); P Curtis (0-2), K O’Grady (0-3), D Shannon. Subs: T Rossiter for C Carty, J Tubritt (0-2) for R Frayne, B Brosnan (0-1) for D Shannon, E Nolan for G Malone, D Pepper for C Devitt.

Laois - E Keogh; R C Fennell, D Booth, J Kelly; S Nerney, C Begley, F Crowley (0-1); K Meaney, R Bracken; D O’Reilly, Evan Lowry, M Scully; Eoin Lowry (0-2f), C Murphy (0-5, 3f), E O’Carroll (0-3, 1f). Subs: E Buggy for J Kelly, S Attride for Evan Lowry, E Dunne for K Meaney, M Barry for R Bracken, R Piggott for F Crowley, M Keogh (1-0) for D O’Reilly, R Hitchcock for R C Fennell.

Referee - J Hickey.

Tweet

Most Read Stories