Kildare 0-19
Limerick 0-12
(After extra-time)

Kildare came within seconds of crashing out of the All-Ireland race before overwhelming Limerick in extra-time at O'Moore Park tonight.

Kildare supporters, who dominated the 11,345 crowd, could barely watch as their team trailed by 0-10 to 0-11 in injury-time. But in the 71st minute of an absorbing contest, wing back Emmet Bolton scored a dramatic equalising point to force extra-time. It was the first time since the 15th minute that the sides were level, with an inspired Limerick team having led for more than three-quarters of the game.

When it came to extra-time, Maurice Horan's bravehearts had simply nothing left in the tank, having also played extra-time against Longford seven days ago. Buoyed by their last-gasp equaliser, Kildare's supreme fitness came to the fore as they scored six unanswered points in the first period to finally stamp their authority on proceedings.

Ian Ryan registered Limerick's first score since the 51st minute at the start of the second period, but the Lilywhites - who had trailed by 0-8 to 0-11 late in normal time - replied with two more points to progress to next Saturday's fourth round qualifier against Sligo with a huge sigh of relief.

Massive underdogs Limerick won the tactical battle hands down with their two-man full forward line of Ryan and Ger Collins clearly catching the opposing defence cold. They also nullified the threat posed by Kildare target man Tomas O'Connor by dropping centre back Stephen Lucey back onto him.

Kildare made a late change to their selected line-up which saw Ollie Lyons replacing Andrew McLoughlin in defence. They had to wait until the seventh minute for Eoghan O'Flaherty to open the scoring from a free, but Limerick responded with frees from Ian Ryan in the ninth and 11th minutes to edge in front.

Alan Smith levelled for the Lilywhites, only for Ryan to raise his third flag from play in the 14th minute. James Kavanagh tied up the scoring again, but it continued to be the Ian Ryan show. The St. Senan's clubman notched up two more points (one from play) to give the underdogs a two-point cushion for the first time.

Mikey Conway made it a one-point game in the 32nd minute, but Limerick finished the half with two more points from Stephen Kelly and substitute Damien Quaid to take a 0-7 to 0-4 lead into the break.

Midfielder Robert Kelly closed the gap on the restart, but the Treatymen weren't yielding and led by 0-9 to 0-6 after 45 minutes. Conway (free) and Eoghan O'Connor traded points before Conway closed the gap to two, 0-10 to 0-8.

Goalkeeper Brian Scanlon came forward to restore Limerick's three-point advantage from a '45 in the 51st minute. The seriousness of the situation from a Kildare point of view was reflected in manager Kieran McGeeney's decision to introduce both Seanie Johnston and Padraig Fogarty to his attack.

Points from Johnny Doyle and Kavanagh had the margin down to the minimum by the 64th minute, but in a nail-biting finale, Limerick grimly clung onto their slender lead until Bolton rescued the favourites at the death.

There was only going to be one outcome after that. Six points without reply - nine if you factor in normal time - from James Kavanagh, Padraig O'Neill, Morgan O'Flaherty (his first of this year's championship), Johnny Doyle, Seanie Johnston and Eoghan O'Flaherty saw the fitter Lilywhites surge into a 0-17 to 0-11 lead at the end of the first period.

Ian Ryan broke the Kildare scoring sequence with a Limerick point at the start of the second period, but Kildare - who had 12 different scorers - replied with efforts from Eoin Doyle and Johnston to march on.

Kildare - S Connolly; P Kelly, H McGrillen, O Lyons; E Bolton (0-1), M O'Flaherty (0-1), E Doyle (0-1); M Foley (0-1), R Kelly (0-1); E O'Flaherty (0-2), J Doyle (0-2), M Conway (0-3); A Smith (0-1), T O'Connor, J Kavanagh (0-3). Subs: P O'Neill (0-1) for R Kelly, S Johnston (0-2) for E O'Flaherty, P Fogarty for O'Connor, E Callaghan for Smith, G White for Bolton, A Mac Lochlainn for Lyons, E O'Flaherty for M O'Flaherty.

Limerick - B Scanlon; A Lane, S Lucey, J McCarthy; J Riordan, L O'Dwyer, P Ranahan; J Donovan, S Buckley; E O'Connor (0-1), S Kelly (0-1), P Browne; G Collins (0-1), S O'Carroll, I Ryan (0-8). Subs: D Quaid (0-1) for Lane, I Corbett for O'Carroll, B O'Brien for Donovan, J O'Meara for Kelly, J Cooke for Collins, S Kelly for Riordan.

Referee - B Cassidy (Derry) Tweet

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