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 Down
Senior Football Face Kildare - 22/02/03
Allianz
National Football League Division 1B
Kildare 1-16 v Down 1-11  @
3.30 p.m. Kildare, Sunday 23rd March 2003
Kildare collected their first league
points of the season at Newbridge yesterday and in the
process dragged Down into the relegation mire with them.
This result means that Sligo need to get beaten in their
next game while Down need to defeat Meath for the Mourne
County to stay in Division 1 next year.
Kildare eventually won this game by
five points, but things did not look promising for them
early on when Liam Doyle put the visitors in front with
a goal inside 35 seconds. Kildare came into the game
minus the services of a few injury-hit regulars, including
Dermot Earley, and their troubles were compounded when
Mick Wright was unable to start at midfield and was
replaced by Aidan McHugh, who is himself only returning
form injury.
It took the Lilywhites some time to
settle but, with Derek McCormack and John Doyle causing
problems for the Down defence, they began to narrow
the gap. They took the lead in the 26th minute when
Tadgh Fennin collected a fine pass from Karl Ennis to
goal from close range.
Points from Ennis and Fennin put Kildare
1-9 to 1-5 ahead by half-time.
Down introduced Brendan Grant and made
a number of positional changes for the second half,
but took over 15 minutes to register their first point.
In the meantime, Kildare continued to build up their
advantage with a free from Fennin and a point by Ronan
Sweeney. They were nine points in front by the time
Ronan Sexton got Down's next score. Paddy O'Rourke's
team out-scored Kildare by five points to two in the
closing stages, but it wasn't enough and they now need
to win their final game to have any chance of avoiding
the drop.
SCORERS
Kildare: T Fennin 1-6 (0-4f), J Doyle 0-4 (2f), D McCormack
0-2, K Ennis, R Sweeney, G Ryan, K Brennan 0-1 each.
Down: M Walsh 0-6 (2f), L Doyle 1-1, R Sexton 0-2, M
Cole and A Devlin 0-1.
KILDARE - C Byrne; B Lacey, R Quinn,
A McLoughlin; D Lyons, D Hendy, A Rainbow; A Barry,
A McHugh; K Ennis, G Ryan, R Sweeney; T Fennin, D McCormack,
J Doyle. Subs: E Callaghan for Rainbow, K Brennan for
McHugh, P Murray for Fennin, J O'Donoghue for Ryan,
B Moyles for Sweeney.
DOWN - M McVeigh; J Clarke, C Byrne,
M Cole; A Scullion, A O'Prey, D Rooney; S Ward, G McCartan;
L Doyle, M Walsh, R Murtagh; R Sexton, D Gordon, A Devlin.
Subs: B Grant for Rooney, B Burns for Byrne, J Lavery
for Scullion, J McCartan for Murtagh, G McMahon for
Devlin. REF - T Quigley (Wexford)
Division
1B Results and League Table
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