Kildare ... 0-13 Dublin ... 1-9 Things have come a long way from when O'Byrne Cup football in mid-January meant mostly half-hearted efforts from mostly out-of-shape players. It's foolish to read too much into form at this time of year, but pre-season football is clearly not the wasteland it used to be.
Look at Kildare. For the second weekend in succession they dug deep and played some unseasonably competitive football. At times they scored and defended remarkably well. All this for the right to play Longford in next Sunday's final.
Dublin, too, were committed from the start. With only four regular seniors on the field most of their players were out to impress - and many did. And in the closing minutes with the scores tied neither team was giving an inch.
It all made for an enjoyable afternoon's football - watched by a decent crowd of about 2,000 in the sprawling club grounds of Naomh Mearnog in Portmarnock.
What won the game in the end for Kildare was the experience of Eddie McCormack, and the reliable heads of some of his older team-mates around him. Like Anthony Rainbow and Glenn Ryan, he was introduced by manager Padraic Nolan to help stem some of Dublin's first-half dominance, and the move proved decisive.
After leading 0-7 to 0-4 at the break, Dublin's inexperienced line-up started to shake and midway through the second half Kildare scored five unanswered points. Five minutes from time Tomás Quinn calmly converted a penalty to briefly restore Dublin's lead, but a free from John Doyle set up McCormack for his late winner.
Dublin caretaker manager Dave Billings rarely lets feelings of defeat show on his face, yet this was a game he'd clearly wanted to win.
"Of course I'm disappointed because I don't like to lose any match with Dublin," he said. "But I was well impressed with the level of performance from both teams, and it was like championship intensity there for maybe 10 minutes of the second half.
"At the end they obviously had a lot more regular players on than we did. And players like Glenn Ryan, who is one of their greats. But our lads also learnt an awful lot from the game."
It remains to be seen how many of Dublin's underage talents on show yesterday will feature in Tommy Lyons's plans over the coming months, but he won't be short of choices. Quinn is developing into a trusty point-taker and Declan O'Mahony clearly has a future in the game.
In defence, Nathan Kane and Kevin Kehilly displayed potential, though Lyons might be most pleased to hear Shane Ryan has rarely looked more settled at centre back.
Kildare had their own experiments going on yesterday, but there is no disputing their most experienced men were needed to secure the result. Rainbow's introduction at half-time was particularly significant, and helped tidy up the defence.
Yet Nolan was still focusing on the positive impact of the younger players, while also quick to remind everyone around him that it was only the middle of January.
"When the league starts up there are going to be a lot of matches like that," he said, "so it was great for the younger lads to get the experience, and come away with the one-point win. We have lots of competition for places now, and that's the most important thing. Players want to get their jersey, and others want to keep them. And that's good."
The final against Longford will also be a useful lesson before the two sides meet in the Leinster championship next summer. And Nolan doesn't mind if it takes the older players to win that game too.
"Well, we knew that the old players would make a difference today. The idea here is to give younger players a run, but the older lads need games too so it was always the intention to use them here as well.
"But I'd say fitness was the big difference out there. We had a good six weeks before Christmas, something I don't think Dublin had. But Dublin do have a fine squad of players, and when they add some of those young lads to what they have then they'll definitely be the team to beat in Leinster this year."
KILDARE: E Murphy; B Lacey, E Noones, A McLoughlin; E Callaghan, D Hendy, P Mullarkey (0-1); A McHugh, K Brennan; M Sexton, P Hurley (0-2), J Doyle (0-4, three frees); B Moyles (0-1), T Rossiter, T Fennon (0-3, two frees). Subs: E McCormack (0-2) for Sexton (28 mins), A Rainbow for McLoughlin (half time), D McCormack for Moyles (40 mins), G Ryan for Noones (58 mins), P Brennan for K Brennan (61 mins, inj).
DUBLIN: A Durnan; D Corcoran, P Christie, N Kane; K Kehilly (0-1), S Ryan, K Kavanagh; C Whelan, D Homan; D O'Mahony (0-1), B Cullen, L Óg Ó hEineachain (0-2); T Quinn (1-4, one free), K Golden, J Noonan (0-1). Subs: D Lally for Noonan (40 mins), G Cullen for Golden (59 mins), S Walsh for O'Mahony (66 mins).
Referee: P Finnegan (Louth).
