Kildare 1-13
Dublin 0-13

A bad week for Dublin got worse when Kildare ended their reign as ESB Leinster minor football champions in last night's quarter-final second replay at Pairc Tailteann in Navan.

In what was the fourth meeting of the sides this summer (Kildare won their opening round clash before Dublin came through the losers' section and twice drew with their neighbours), goalkeeper Mark Donnellan and Aussie Rules-bound Paul Cribben were the Lilywhites' heroes.

With time almost up, Donnellan denied Dublin extra-time when he pulled off a brilliant save from sub Jack McCaffrey which would have tied the scores at 1-13 apiece. And Cribben proved a constant threat to Val Andrews' side, scoring five points from play in a man of the match display.

Despite leading from start to finish, Kildare could never relax against a determined Dublin team. Early points from Liam McGovern and Sean Hurley helped them to a 0-4 to 0-2 lead after 14 minutes and they tightened their grip on proceedings a minute later when Fionn Dowling centred for Padraig Fogarty to fist home the only goal.

Hurley and Cribben added further points to give Brian Murphy's charges a 1-7 to 0-4 lead at the interval.

With the fit-again Ciaran Kilkenny in sparking form, Dublin scored the first three points of the second half to close the gap. Points from Kilkenny and sub Colin Duffy had the margin down to the minimum with seven minutes to go, but Kildare steadied themselves and sealed their place in Sunday evening's provincial semi-final against Longford courtesy of late points from Dowling and wing back Marcus Duke.

Kildare - M Donnellan; M Konstatin, J Byrne, B Egan; M Duke (0-1), T Moolick, J Comerford; S Hurley (0-2, 1f), K Feely; L McGovern (0-3, 2f), P Cocoman, P Cribben (0-5); N Kelly, P Fogarty (1-1), F Dowling (0-1). Subs - T Gibbons for Hurley (34); F Conway for Cocoman (44); C Plunkett for Kelly (60).

Dublin - C Murphy; M Durcan, D Byrne, M Gibbs; N McGovern, A Caffrey (0-1), A Fallon; L Fletcher, P O'Curry; C Diamond, F Duffy, H Dawson (0-1); S Stewart (0-1), C Kilkenny (0-8, 6f), P Ryan. Subs - J McCaffrey for Gibbs (25); D McCabe for Byrne (27); C Woods (0-2, 1sl) for Diamond (36); JJ Martin for Ryan (47); R Basquel for Duffy (56).

Ref - D Brazil (Offaly). Tweet

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