KILDARE, among others, have found that nothing can be taken for granted in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.
The Lilywhites went down to a shock 1-17 to 1-11 Leinster SFC semi-final defeat at the hands of Meath. If the Croke Park attendance could hardly believe what they were seeing, then they must have been more surprised when the reigning All-Ireland champions Dublin trailed Wexford by three points in the second half of the second semi-final.
To further add to the anxiety of their supporters in the near 48,000 attendance, the Dubs had star forward Diarmuid Connolly red carded in the 40th minute. Somehow Dublin’s 14 men raised their game to snatch a 2-11 to 1-10 victory.
But Dublin could count themselves very fortunate that Wexford failed to take their chances. They scored just two points in the second half, hitting numerous wides.
At the finish, their manager Jason Ryan commented that his team “should have beaten the All-Ireland champions.” But the truth is that they have made a habit of getting into good positions against Dublin only to lack the conviction to get over the line.
Dublin, although a long way short of their best, have that conviction. So, quite clearly, do Donegal, successful 0-12 to 0-10 against Tyrone in the Ulster semi-final.
Up to last Sunday, most observers would have felt that Kildare were also right up there amongst the leading contenders for the All-Ireland crown but nothing went right in their semi-final defeat to Meath.
Remember, this was a Meath team that was relegated to Division Three of the National League and took two games to overcome Carlow in the quarter-finals of the Leinster Championship. What’s more, their manager Seamus McEnaney has had to withstand calls for his resignation.
But McEnaney made nonsense of the criticism on Sunday. The Meath manager, deprived of a number of first choice players, choose to send out a very young team.
No fewer than eight players were under 23. The policy worked with one of them, midfielder Conor Gillespie being named Man of the Match.
Meath full deserved their victory after a hugely improved performance but Kildare manager Kieran McGeeney could argue, with some justification, that the sending off of Daryl Flynn for a second yellow card in the 52nd minute was a major turning point. The sides were level, 0-11 each, at the time.
Furthermore, Kildare felt they should have had a free prior to Meath scoring their goal. Instead, referee Michael Collins choose to throw
