Down 1-16 Kildare 1-14:WITH THE clock still running well into injury-time Kildare replacement Robert Kelly gets to address the definitive shot to nothing. His team trail by two and a place in the All-Ireland is on the line. Awarded about 20 metres out, the kick is manoeuvred a bit closer and Kelly lets fly at the goal with what must look like half of the Mourne County arrayed in front of him.
It was a remarkable effort. But for the tireless Kalum King managing to stretch and turn the ball onto the bar, Kelly might well have earned himself a distinct niche in history. Instead the goal-frame absorbed the force of the shot, sending the ball spinning unpredictably downwards and eventually it was hacked to safety, as referee Pat McEnaney whistled the match into history.
Yesterday’s All-Ireland football semi-final was almost unbearably exciting. Down dominated the upper register of the football and were authors of much of the individual brilliance on display, stretching their lead to seven, 1-14 to 0-10, with just 13 minutes remaining.
Yet it was Kildare’s sang froid warriors, specialists in the big finish, who had that chance, far- fetched as it was, to sneak past their opponents within breathing distance of the tape.
The inclination in the quivering aftermath was to point out that Down had been better and deserved the win but there were so many twists and turns over the 70 minutes that you had to think about even that.
Kildare suffered much misfortune, losing, as expected, their spiritual leader Dermot Earley to injury before the throw-in, conceding a pretty obvious square-ball goal early in the match and having what looked like a good point by Alan Smith disallowed.
Opposing submissions would put it that Down too lost a centrefielder – and captain – when Ambrose Rogers was ruled out last week and yet dominated the middle with replacement Peter Fitzpatrick having a great match in tandem with Kalum King.
They would also contend that Eamonn Callaghan’s second-half goal, which trip-switched the frantic attempts at a comeback, was as invalid as Benny Coulter’s given the number of steps taken en route.
Of all the submitted scripts for the match, the teams chose an unusual one in which Down started more nervously, spilling ball and looking shaken by the intensity of the opening gambits. Snapping up the restarts and moving relentlessly at the Ulster side, Kildare racked up a couple of wides before getting on the scoreboard.
James Kavanagh, their marquee forward this season, comprehensively beat Dan McCartan to a long ball from Hugh Lynch, again stepping in for Earley, for his team’s second point. For a team with a well-earned reputation for starting badly, Kildare were out of character.
Down, whose early blitzkrieg had shaken Kerry so badly in the quarter-final, were also acting against type – at the other end Hugh McGrillen powering past John Clarke in their first tussle – but steadied with their first score, immediately after Kavanagh’s.
It came with a tactical message for Kildare manager Kieran McGeeney. Given Callaghan’s deep-lying role in the early stages, Down’s decision to put Kevin McKernan on him paid dividends quickly as the Burren defender showed good technique to hit two of his team’s first three scores, as the match brought him well up the field.
However the controversial goal stalled Kildare’s early momentum.
Martin Clarke, whose composure on the ball was one of the many enjoyments of the afternoon, boomed in a pass from the left wing. It dropped invitingly down on goal where Coulter was ready and waiting – in all senses – to fist to the net for a lead, 1-1 to 0-3, which his team relinquished for all of two minutes during the remainder of the match.
Clarke’s use of the ball and Coulter’s constant menace – regardless of some indifferent finishing – began to impact strongly on the match, as did the constant movement of Daniel Hughes on the wing and the ceaseless efforts of Fitzpatrick at centrefield.
The match settled into a fascinating pattern, a vivid demonstration of how football has changed. At stages most of the outfield players gathered in a phalanx in the middle of the field, crowded between the 45-metre lines.
This made winning possession the equivalent of trench warfare but created space for the breaking team, which Down exploited exquisitely at times, fast inter-change and releasing a man for a shot. When the cover got back, the ball would find its way to Clarke and he would slow everything and plot the next move.
John Doyle, reliable as ever, kicked frees, which Down conceded abundantly, to keep Kildare in contention and draw them level for a couple of minutes but, as in the quarter-final, McCartan’s team hit the pedals with half-time beckoning, outscoring their opponents by 0-6 to 0-1 in the 10 minutes or so before the break.
Opportunism by Hughes punished a poor restart and initiated a great move, finished by Clarke, before adding another and Coulter on the right wing delicately chipped a pass into Fitzpatrick, came around for the return and with his right, banged over the spectacular final score of the first half to make it 1-9 to 0-7.
There was danger for the winners after the restart. Having swapped points, Kildare played in Callaghan whose shot across the goal clipped the far post and to make bad worse, Eoghan O’Flaherty shot wide from the rebound.
Down had their own goal chance but a flurry of shots from McComiskey and Fitzpatrick came to nothing. King was well-blocked by Brian Flanagan. These were good opportunities but Kildare weren’t making any headway themselves.
Clarke took over for a sustained burst of productivity. At the start of the final quarter there was a telling moment when, with his defence panicking slightly as they tried to pass their way out of trouble under pressure from the Kildare forwards, he appeared in his own half-back line, took the ball and calmly plotted the route to safety.
He then kicked a free and in the 57th minute flighted a perfect pass into Fitzpatrick, who took the point with a goal definitely available.
Seven points ahead, Down looked home but Kildare, true to their established practice, turned up the heat. Callaghan again got through, albeit over-carrying, and this time made no mistake.
In the final 10 minutes. Lynch kicked two whopping points from distance. Doyle added a free and replacement David Lyons a point. Clarke engineered a point but missed a long-range free and an end-game melee raised Kildare hopes of a penalty as the ball may have been touched on the ground in the square.
Instead it all came down to a free before Down, the county that has never lost an All-Ireland final qualified for their sixth and first since 1994 against a county, Cork, that has lost its last three.
Pressure both ways and a fascinating climax is in prospect to what has been a terrific All-Ireland championship.
