Dempsey’s men up the ante to retain crown

Moorefield 1-15 Sarsfields 1-6

Having held on for their lives to get a second bite, Moorefield finished the job in some style to retain their Kildare SFC title with a commanding performance.

Luke Dempsey’s men were five points down with nine minutes to go last week but clawed their way back with five scores to earn a replay.

And despite the poor concession of a goal to Robbie Confrey after just 85 seconds, they never looked like losing this once they settled after that slow opening.

Kerry selector and Moorefield clubman Cian O’Neill was very prominent in issuing instructions and motivating from the sideline, having been invited by Dempsey to offer his considerable expertise.

The blustery wind and heavy rain that started midway through the opening half probably contributed to the quality of the fare not matching the brilliance that was witnessed last week.

It was quite apparent why the excitement quotient was reduced though and that was squarely due to a Moorefield dominance forged on the performance of a middle third in which incoming Sligo selector/coach Ronan Sweeney and Kevin Murnaghan excelled.

As well as providing the likes of Ciaran Kelly and Éanna O’Connor – son of former Kerry manager Jack – with a constant flow of possession, their sheer superiority denied Sarsfields’ attack any quality supply.

Alan Smith cut a forlorn figure long before the end as he waited for something to come his way. He did kick a fifth minute point but John Crofton's men only added one more before the interval and another four in the second half.

By contrast, Moorefield kicked some fabulous points, with Murnaghan, Ciaran Kelly and Eddie Heavey kicking pearlers.

Both sides had goal opportunities that respective goalkeepers Tom Corley (Moorefield) and Patrick O'Sullivan (Sarsfields) did well to stop.

The key score was Kelly’s 15th-minute goal finished off the sod after good work from Heavey, and Moorefield outscored their rivals by four points to one for the rest of the half to lead by 1-7 to 1-2.

Declan McKenna should have had a goal 26 seconds after the restart for Sarsfields but blazed over and, though Ray Cahill reduced the margin to three, Moorefield kicked the next six points to put the game to bed.

Ronan Sweeney and Sean Campbell were sent off in injury time on second yellows before Gary White left Sarsfields on 13 when receiving a straight red card.