Kildare 0-15
Laois 1-12
Challenge match
The opening of the Fr Prendergast Park in Monasterevin was marked by a challenge game between Kildare and Laois this afternoon as both sides continued their preparation ahead of their respective Leinster Championship openers in the coming weeks.
The most noteworthy aspect from a Kildare point of view were the number of debuts made by new players to the panel, while the fixture also marked the return to action of Kildare captain Eoin Doyle after the Naas man missed the entire league campaign through injury. The defender came on for the final 10 minutes of the clash, and slotted in to half-back role.
It was a fitting fixture to open such a fine facility in the Monasterevin GAA Club, which sits just a few kilometres inside the Kildare border with Laois.
There was a touch of the carnival atmosphere surrounding the club from the moment people began flooding through the gates before 3pm, with a mixture of young and old from both counties descending upon the venue.
After the official opening was performed by Kildare GAA County Board Chairman Ger Donnelly, thoughts quickly turned to the game as the two old foes renewed their rivalry once again, with Laois naming a strong line-up in preparation for their Leinster Championship opener against Wicklow in two weeks time.
Onto the action then, and the main talking point from a Kildare point of view before the game was the return of Morgan O'Flaherty to the side after over a year away from the panel, while Chris Healy and Con Kavanagh were brought in for their first senior appearances after an impressive campaign with the county U21 side.
All three put in accomplished displays in that opening half, with Healy registering a point and generally looking lively, while O'Flaherty was very vocal in organising the Lilywhites defence from his centre-back berth.
Eanna O'Connor was perhaps the most impressive performer for the hosts during the opening 35 minutes, scoring five points in a highly accurate display as Kildare lead by 0-7 to 0-5 at the interval.
Laois set up in a highly defensive manner as they left just Donie Kingston and Ruari O'Connor in their inside forward line while dropping as many as 13 players back behind the ball to restrict Kildare from getting quick ball into their own inside line. Kildare were quite ponderous at times in their build up play, and many of their moves broke down once they hit the Laois defensive wall on their opponents '45. The one way to counteract that is by picking off scores from distance, though they only managed to do that on one occasion as Kevin Murnaghan floated over a lovely long range score.
The O'Moore Men's gameplan restricted them to relying on scoring from long range efforts, and it took a long range effort from Gary Walsh to eventually settle them into the game after a nervy looking opening few minutes.
The majority of their scores were actually quite eye-catching, with John O'Loughlin kicking the pick of the bunch from over 50 metres out. Walsh and Paul Jamie Farrell kicked further points for the visitors before the interval to leave just a couple of points between the sides after a relatively dour opening half.
Laois were much better in the second half however as they opted to push more men forward, while Kildare's litany of second half changes disrupted their flow. Shane McNamara was one of those changes, the Celbridge goalkeeper coming in to make his first appearance for the county. It wasn't long until he was picking the ball out of the net however, as Donie Kingston capitalised on some poor defensive play from Kildare to finish to the net from close range. McNamara did make two fine stops in the second half however, tipping a Gary Walsh shot onto the post in the 46th minute, while he also parried a John O'Loughlin effort away in injury time.
Neill Flynn was impressive upon his introduction at the interval, scoring five points in total, while Paul Cribben also made a telling impact with two superb scores after replacing Daryl Flynn.
After a neck and neck second 35 minutes it was level going into injury time, and it looked like Neill Flynn had won the game for Kildare with a lovely curling effort from the right wing, but a last gasp Evan Keane point denied the Lilywhites victory.
Scorers for Kildare: E O'Connor(3f, 1'45) and N Flynn 0-5(3f) each, P Cribben and K Murnaghan 0-2 each, C Healy 0-1.
Scorers for Laois: G Walsh 0-6(2f), P Cahillane 0-3(2f), D Kingston 1-0, J O'Loughlin, J Farrell and E Keane 0-1 each.
Kildare
T Corley; H McGrillen, C O'Donoghue, E Powderly; K Murnaghan, M O'Flaherty, E Bolton; M Byrne, D Flynn; P O'Neill, E O'Connor, C Kavanagh; C Healy, F Dowling, C McNally.
Subs used: D Hyland for H McGrillen 34 mins, N Flynn for C McNally h/t, S McNamara for T Corley h/t, L Healy for C O'Donoghue h/t, P Cribben for D Flynn h/t, O Lyons for L Healy 46mins, T Moolick for P O'Neill 46 mins, E O'Flaherty for E O'Connor 49 mins, E Doyle for C Healy 53 mins
Laois
G Brody; T Collins, P O'Sullivan, D Seale; A Farrell, D Strong, D O'Connor; J O'Loughlin, J Farrell; C Meredith, P Cahillane, N Donoher; R O'Connor, G Walsh, D Kingston.
Subs used: S Attride for P Cahillane, E O'Carroll for R O'Connor, B Quigley for J Farrell, E Keane for Kingston.
If you have a story or want to send a photo or video to us please contact the Kildare Now editorial team. Between 9am and 5pm Monday to Sunday please call 045 409350. Between 5pm and midnight please call or text 086 729 0010. Or you can email content@kildarenow.com at any time.