Mark Moloney and Conor Kenny both found the net inside the opening seven minutes as Celbridge captured their third Kildare SHC title on the trot in Newbridge yesterday.

Celbridge 2-16
Confey 0-15

Confey, to their credit, put their shaky start behind them to trail by the minimum at half-time, but the champions - who are managed by former Dublin 'keeper Damien Byrne - upped the tempo again in the second half to run out seven-point winners.

Celbridge got off to a flying start when Moloney goaled after only two minutes and when teenager Kenny followed up with a second major five minutes later, they were 2-1 to 0-2 to the good. But Confey recovered well and with Paul Divilly in fine form from placed balls, they trailed by only a point at the break, 0-10 to 2-5.

Divilly missed a chance to level the game after the restart before Celbridge hit four unanswered points to take control once more. Celbridge's victory was embellished by two late points from 17-year-old substitute Gerry Keegan, and they will now have a Leinster club IHC title in their sights after losing last year's decider to Kilkenny side Dicksboro.

Scorers - Celbridge: B White 0-8 (7f, 1 '65'), C Kenny 1-3, M Moloney 1-0, G Keegan 0-2, L Quinn, J Houlihan, D Butler 0-1 each. Confey: P Divilly 0-10 (9fs), K Divilly 0-2 (1 pen), K Chan, D Nolan, C Feeney 0-1 each.

Celbridge - N Lanigan; T Finnerty, F O'Muineachain, P Curtin; A McDonagh, D Moloney, N O'Muineachain; D Butler, B White; M Moloney, F Conway, C Kenny; L Quinn, T Murphy, J Houlihan. Subs: G Keegan for Butler (51), P Moore for M Moloney (55), D Kirwan for White (60), K Bracken for Curtin (60), D Kenny for Finnerty (60).

Confey - R Connolly; A Fennelly, Paul Keegan, B Dowd; S Lawless, N Glennon, K Chan; M Divilly, K Divilly; P Divilly, C Feeney, C Chan; Pauric Keegan, J O'Neill, E Fitzpatrick. Subs: I Baker for Connolly (30), D Nolan for C Chan (38), P Quigley for M Divilly (59).

Ref - T Carew Tweet

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