Eadestown 1-10
Leixlip 1-10
Joe Mallon SFC round one
A free from Emmet Bolton three minutes into injury time saved Eadestown from a first round defeat and ensured the first draw in this year's Kildare Senior Football Championship.
Tommy Moolick's second half penalty looked to have provided the injection boost for a Leixlip win, but Bolton landed two late scores to save the day for his side late on.
The first half of this game was an entertaining affair as both teams looked happy to play an open and expansive game, with Eadestown in particular running at their opponents with real intent.
The reliable Paddy Meagher opened the scoring for Leixlip through a straightforward free, but Johnny Deane responded with a lovely point from distance to level the game. That would be the first of five occasions in which both sides were level in the opening half, with no team able to grab a real stranglehold on the tie until Conroy's goal on the stroke of half-time.
Eoin Molloy nudged Leixlip back into the lead with his first point from play, but Paul Doherty - the game's best player in the first half - responded with a lovely curling point at the other end, before Niall Cummins swung over a point from a free to push Eadestown into the lead for the first time.
Meagher and Doherty swung over frees at either end, before Leixlip enjoyed a brief purple patch as they managed two scores in a row from Tommy Moolick, whose monster free from 50 metres drew them level, before he curled over one from the left to edge them ahead.
The lively Deane cut in from the right wing to slot over a point in response, before Conroy's goal arrived deep into stoppage time. Emmet Bolton surged up the field from centre-back and offloaded the ball to Deane, and he picked out the unmarked Conroy who roamed into the square and rolled the ball under Leixlip stopper Shane O'Meara. That sent Philly Wolfe's side into the break with a 1-5 to 0-5 lead.
Leixlip immediately set about cutting into the Eadestown lead at the start of the second stanza, a pointed free from Paddy Meagher and a tidy effort from Ciaran Masterson bringing them to within one point.
Eadestown responded with two scores of their own however, as Cian Bolton opened his account for the day from a free, before some fine work by Conor McCarthy to win a Leixlip kickout gave Bolton the opportunity to swing over a beauty of a score from 40 metres out to re-establish that three-point cushion.
Molloy and Padraic Tuohy swapped scores at either end after that, and with 12 minutes to go Meagher clipped over his first from play to leave just two points between the sides and ensure that this game was right in the melting pot with 10 minutes to go.
The game took a pivotal swing with just seven minutes remaining however, as Leixlip goalkeeper Shane O'Meara pulled off a fine save to deny Niall Cummins a goal at one end, before referee David Coady awarded a penalty at the other when Doherty hauled down Molloy inside the area. Moolick stepped up to stroke the penalty straight down the middle and push his side into the lead.
Moolick then landed a free to give his side a bit of breathing space, but Bolton set up a grandstand finish by landed a free in response, before landing the equalising score three minutes into injury time.
Scorers for Leixlip: T Moolick 1-3(1-0pen, 3f), P Meagher 0-4(3f), E Molloy 0-2, C Masterson 0-1.
Scorers for Eadestown: C Bolton 0-4(3f), E Conroy 1-0, J Deane and P Doherty(1f) 0-2 each, P Tuohy and N Cummins(1f) 0-1 each.
Leixlip
Shane O'Meara; Conor Flynn, Ryan Doyle, Kevin Conneelly; Brian Gibbons, Tom Gibbons, Ciaran Fadian; Brian Claffey, Tommy Moolick; Eoin Molloy, Paddy Meagher, Ronan Fitzsimons; Dessie Hynes, Ciaran Masterson, Cathal Melville.
Subs used: Eamonn Murphy for Hynes HT, Ivan Clancy for Fitzsimons 44mins, Jack Barrett for Melville 44mins.
Eadestown
Glen Higgins; Adam Fitzsimons, Eoin Cummins, Shane Dunne; Eddie Conroy, Emmet Bolton, Eoin Woods; Niall Cummins, Barry Lawlor; Padraic Touhy, Paul Doherty, Johnny Deane; Conor McCarthy, Cian Molton, Ronan Slattery.
Subs used: Pat O'Sullivan for Eddie Conroy 57mins, Paul Hyland for McCarthy 57mins.
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