Gaelic Games

O’Byrne Cup wrap: New-look Kildare take comfortable Westmeath victory

Goal-happy Wexford crush Laois; Longford come from eight down in the second half

Westmeath’s Fola Ayorinde is tackled by Shea Ryan of Kildare. Photograph: Evan Treacy/Inpho

Sat Jan 8 2022 - 15:25

Kildare 0-19 Westmeath 0-8

A new-look Kildare side got the new Glenn Ryan era up and running with a comprehensive win over an equally experimental Westmeath side at Newbridge on Saturday.

Across both teams, just six players started the game who started the Leinster semi-final between the two sides last July. It was all change in the dug outs too with Ryan joined by fellow Kildare legends Anthony Rainbow, Johnny Doyle and Dermot Earley. Westmeath manager Jack Cooney also bolstered his management team with the introduction of a couple of All-Stars in the form of Dessie Dolan and John Keane.

On the field, Kildare always looked likely winners. Paddy Woodgate, a key member of the 2018 U20 All-Ireland winning team, took his first chance in a senior jersey well with a couple of early scores. Fellow debutant Padraic Tuohy also scored a brace of points in the first quarter as Kildare went to the water break leading 0-5 to 0-1.

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Kildare continued to cut through the Westmeath in the second quarter but the Midlanders were able to take advantage of the home team going down to 14 men after a Kevin O’Callaghan black card by scoring the last two points of the half to trail 0-11 to 0-5 at the at the break.

Jimmy Hyland scored the last two Kildare points of the half and he went on to kick a further five in the second period.

The game lost its shape as a consequence of a raft of substitutions but the result never looked in doubt and Ryan’s time in charge begins with a comfortable win.

Kildare: A O'Neill; T Harrington, M O'Grady, R Houlihan; T Archbold, S Ryan, J Sargent; K O'Callaghan, K Flynn; C Kavanagh, P Cribbin (0-2), P Tuohy (0-2); P Woodgate (0-6, 4 frees), A Steed (0-1), J Hyland (0-7, 6 frees).

Subs: D O'Neill for Kavanagh (45 mins); E Lawless for Tuohy (45 mins); D Flynn (0-1) for Steed (54 mins); J Murray for Ryan (57 mins); M Joyce for Harrington (59 mins); D Malone for Houlihan (59 mins); D Hyland for Archbold (62 mins); D Randles for O'Grady (66 mins); S O'Sullivan for Cribbin (70 mins).

Westmeath: J Daly; E Bracken, D Giles, C Dillon; S Allen, N Harte, J Gonoud; J Lynam, R Connellan (0-2); E Monaghan, L Loughlin (0-6, 3 frees, 2 '45s), C McCormack; B Kelly, TJ Cox, R Forde.

Subs: S McCartan for Kelly (26 mins); K Maguire for Monaghan (h/t); F Ayorinde for Dillon (h/t); D Seey for Cox (48 mins); K Martin for McCormack (48 mins); A McCormack for Forde (49 mins); K Daly for Allen (57 mins); A Treanor for Lynam (65 mins); A Flanagan for Bracken (65 mins); S Clinton (70 mins).

Referee: D Fedigan (Louth).

Wexford 6-10 Laois 0-13

A first half goal blitz set Wexford up for an impressive fifteen point victory over Laois in this O’Byrne Cup senior football opening round game played at Hollymount.

Wexford will play Wicklow this Wednesday evening while they complete their group games away to Meath on Saturday next, needing just a further win to put them into the semi-finals in preparation for the league.

Eoghan Nolan and Ben Brosnan were prominent in attack, shooting three goals between them in the opening half. Nolan put his side in front with a fifth minute goal after Brian Daly had pointed the visitors in front in the opening minute, the only time they led in the game.

Wexford were playing with real momentum and movement, causing the Laois defence all kinds of problems, with Brosnan finishing a splendid move with a well-executed goal. Nolan added a third on fourteen minutes, as the home side’s dominance led to a 3-8 to 0-6 interval lead.

Wexford could have been further in front but the expected Laois recovery failed to materialise on the resumption despite a number of substitutions as the home side continued to control the game.

Kevin O’Grady with a fine point extended the lead, while Ben Brosnan marked his return from a sin-binning before the interval with a splendid goal. Tom Byrne added his side’s fifth goal after 45 minutes for a 5-9 to 0-6 lead.

Laois substitute Gary Walsh’s frees along with Ross Munnelly efforts were to prove a token response as Wexford added a sixth goal eleven minutes from the end, Tom Byrne weaving his way through the defence to beat keeper Niall Corbett with a clinical finish.

Wexford: D Brooks; L O'Connor, E Porter, R Barron; D Furlong, N Rossiter, P Hughes (0-1); L Coleman, D Lyons (0-1); A Tobin, D O'Toole (0-1), T Byrne (2-1); K O'Grady (0-2, 1 free), E Nolan (2-1), B Brosnan (2-2).

Subs: G Malone for Lyons (45 mins), R Fitzpatrick for Byrne (55 mins), R Brooks for Coleman (50 mins), C Carty for Furlong (52 mins), J Rossiter for Hughes (55 mins), G Staples for O'Connor (55 mins), C Kehoe (0-1) for Brosnan (62 mins), J O'Leary for Nolan (62 mins), S Kehoe for O'Grady (64 mins), A Boland for Barron (64 mins).

Laois: N Corbett; A Campion, T Collins, C Brennan; S O'Flynn, J O'Loughlin, B Byrne (0-1); J Finn (0-1), B Daly (0-1); D Kavanagh, D Doyle, O O'Sullivan; M Barry (0-3, 1 mark), E Carroll, S Moore (0-1).

Subs: J Kelly for Campion; C Ugochucko for Colins; A Mohan for Brennan; L Senior for O'Sullivan; C Dillon for Byrne; C Fennessy (0-1) for O'Flynn; P Dunne for Finn; R Munnelly (0-2, 2 frees) for Barry; G Walsh (0-3, 3 frees) for Carroll (all 35 mins); J shelley for Doyle (52 mins).

Referee: K Harris (Offaly).

Longford 2-13 Louth 0-14

Eight points down early in the second half, Longford looked unlikely winners over a Louth side who showed glimpses of the early pre-season work done under Mickey Harte over the winter.

However, Longford, the holders after their success in 2020 and the competition not taking place last season, showed they did not want to release their grip on the O’Byrne cup just yet.

Oran Kenny’s waltzing run and finish to the back of the net just before the second half water break proved crucial, the goal brought the gap down to three points, 0-14 to 1-8 but swung momentum in the way of the Midlanders.

Louth could not respond, and having played all the football it will be a crushing loss so early in their season. Debutant Jay Hughes kicked six points, five in the first half in a terrific display to see the visitors lead 0-12 to 0-5 at the turn.

However, despite the good early play, Louth were sloppy in the final quarter and were duly punished by Longford substitute Ross McNerney who levelled the game and then found the net with a low drive to seal a dramatic opening day win for new boss Billy O’Loughlin.

Longford: M Hughes; P Fox, R Moffett, J Kiernan; Dessie Reynolds (0-1), M Quinn (0-1), I O'Sullivan; D Gallagher (0-3, 3 frees), T McNevin; E McCormack, J Shiels, Daniel Reynolds; J Hagan (0-2), D Farrell (0-4, 3f), O Kenny (1-0).

Subs: J Moran for Kiernan (h/t), A McGuire for McNevin (h/t), D Doherty (0-1) for Daniel Reynolds (h/t), R Fitzgibbon for McCormack (45 mins), R McNerney (1-1, 1 free) for Shiels (45 mins), D O'Connell for Dessie Reynolds (49 mins), Dessie Reynolds for Farrell (56 mins).

Louth: N Carrie; D Corcoran, D McKenny, N Sharkey; C McKeever, S Healy, L Grey; C Early (0-1), T Durnin (0-1); L Jackson (0-1), E Callaghan, J Murphy (0-1); J Hughes (0-6, 3 frees, 1 mark), C McCaul (0-1, 1 mark), R Burns (0-2, 2 marks).

Subs: G Browne (0-1) for Corcoran (h/t), D Nally for L Jackson (45 mins), T Jackson for McKeever (45 mins), S Marry for Callaghan (48 mins), G Bell for Grey (48 mins), K McElroy for Hughes (56 mins), C Fleming for McCaul (61 mins).

Referee: A Coyne (Westmeath)