Brian Flanagan admits Kildare feared another Croke Park collapse before late surge sinks Fermanagh
Brian Flanagan says even he was starting to wonder if the Croke Park curse was a real thing for Kildare.
2
Kildare saw off Fermanagh in the Tailteann Cup semi-finals
2
Kildare manager Brian Flanagan he was starting to wonder if the Croke Park curse was a real thing for his side
Sub Brian McLoughlin changed the game when he came on early in the second-half, blasting five crucial points.
And James McGrath set the seal on a slightly flattering seven-point win with his third goal in a row late on.
The scores were tied at 0-8 apiece after 55 minutes and no Kildare fan in the 13,960 crowd was taking anything for granted at that stage.
The Leinster semi-finalists had lost their previous five games at Croke Park - and have a poor record generally there over the last 15 years.
READ MORE ON GAA
They created 32 scoring chances overall but wasted four goal opportunities and drilled 14 wides - leaving Flanagan wondering if another Croker choker was occurring.
He said: "I said after the quarter-final win that every team has their challenges and, look, there was a bit made out of our recent history in Croke Park.
"The reality is you don't talk about those things when you're developing a new group because in many ways it's irrelevant to us.
"But as that game went on, 15 or 20 minutes in, you were thinking, 'Maybe there is something in this, I don't know'.
Most read in Golf
"So winning became even more important than at that point, so you could throw the shackles off in the future when we come back here."
Kildare will be favourites for next month's final and will receive a golden ticket to the 2026 All-Ireland SFC if they can win again at Croker.
'Just in time for Father's Day' - Dublin GAA legends welcome the birth of precious baby daughter
Flanagan will have a selection headache because McLoughlin, who struck 1-2 at Croke Park in the 2018 All-Ireland U-20 final win, will feel he has done enough to start.
McLoughlin was named Man of the Match despite being on the pitch less than 30 minutes.
Attacker Neil Flynn is back in the squad too while versatile half-forward Callum Bolton should be fit again and Jimmy Hyland could yet make it too after calf/Achilles trouble.
Flanagan said: "When Brian is in his stride, he's a very good striker of the ball. That's what we were bringing him in to do.
"We spoke a lot during the week about our bench having an impact, not just coming in to see a game out but actually impacting the game and he certainly did that."
It was a forgettable first 50 minutes or so with Kildare 0-7 to 0-6 up at half-time.
Spells of torrential rain left both sets of players soaked and contributed to an error prone spectacle.
That explained a lot of the wides and handling errors, while neither side really got their kicking games going.
Colm Dalton, Kevin Feely, Tommy Gill and Daniel Flynn all failed to convert decent Kildare goal chances - leaving Flanagan fearing the worst.
But McLoughlin was a game changer when he came on and the goal Fermanagh needed in response never arrived.
Fermanagh manager Kieran Donnelly said: "Conditions were hard on the players. With us being a mobile team and a young team, it didn't help us on a day like that. We haven't played in those conditions all year."
Kildare 1-13
Fermanagh 0-9
Kildare: C Burke; H O'Neill, M Dempsey, K Flynn; B Byrne, D Hyland, J McGrath 1-0; K Feely 0-2, tp, B Gibbons; T Gill, A Beirne 0-1, C Dalton 0-2; R Sinkey, D Kirwan 0-1, D Flynn 0-2.
Subs: B McLoughlin 0-5, 1tp for Sinkey 44, J McKevitt for K Flynn 55, N Kelly for Kirwan 63, A Masterson for Gibbons 66.
Fermanagh: S McNally; L Flanagan, L Cullen, O Smyth; S McGullion, D McCusker 0-1, J Cassidy; J McDade 0-1, D McGurn 0-1; F O'Brien, R Lyons 0-1, R McCaffrey; Josh Largo Ellis 0-2, G Jones, C Love 0-2.
Subs: S Cassidy 0-1 for Jones h/t, C McGee for McCaffrey 50, A Kelm for McCusker 56, Jack Largo Ellis for O'Brien 66, C Cullen for McGullion 68.
Ref: K Eannetta (Tyrone).
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
Early night for Louth as captain Sam Mulroy admits, ‘Donegal got a run on us and put us to bed'
What the thinking was before the game is not known but Louth would have been well aware of what they were up against in a Donegal side fancied by many to win the All-Ireland this year.
RTÉ News
3 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Tomás Ó Sé: Kerry's support cast need to step up for 'defining' clash with Armagh
While the full draw for the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals is yet to take place, there's every chance the meeting of Kerry and Armagh next weekend will be top billing. The draw will take place live on Monday morning on RTÉ Radio 1 with the four preliminary quarter-final winners – Dublin, Kerry, Galway and Donegal – up against the winners of the four round-robin groups, Armagh, Monaghan, Tyrone and Meath. As Armagh have three possible repeat pairings, they are automatically matched with the Kingdom, a repeat of last year's All-Ireland semi-final where Kieran McGeeney's men emerged victorious en route to Sam Maguire glory. The Orchard County failed to add provincial silverware earlier this summer, but have at times looked in top form in the championship. Kerry, by contrast, laboured to victory over Cork and fell to a heavy defeat to Meath in the All-Ireland series before putting Cavan to the sword in their preliminary quarter-final as manager Jack O'Connor continues to battle an injury list, with Diarmuid O'Connor forced off and Mike Breen ruled out before throw-in. Speaking on The Sunday Game, former Kerry player and five-time All-Ireland winner Tomás Ó Sé says the win over Cavan was a "marked improvement" from a Kingdom perspective, led by the 3-07 haul of talisman David Clifford. Tomás Ó Sé expects the Armagh quarter-final to be Kerry's defining game of the championship, and they will have no fear, while adding that he could make an argument for six of the eight teams to win the All-Ireland. #TheSundayGame — The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 22, 2025 "David Clifford has been absolutely outstanding all season long and he gave a performance yesterday that was brilliant," he said. "The first ball he got, he made a statement. He got the ball in the corner, took on his man and buried the ball to the back of the net." Looking ahead to next weekend's quarter-final, Ó Sé believes the game will offer a true litmus test for O'Connor's side. "It's the defining game of the season," he said. "They won't fear it. Kerry are more than capable of showing up on the day, but they will have to offer more in scoring than David Clifford. "Kerry will need a full team back. Diarmuid O'Connor is a huge loss in the middle of the park and Paul Geaney is possibly gone as well, their second highest scorer. "Everybody is saying that Armagh, even though they didn't win Ulster, have been the team of the season so far. "It's going to be a cracker of a game."
Irish Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Shane Walsh 'nasty' shoulder injury, as Kerry, Armagh quarterfinal confirmed
Pádraic Joyce says Shane Walsh sustained a 'nasty looking' shoulder injury in today's Pairc Esler victory over Down, which sent Galway into next weekend's All-Ireland quarter-finals. With all four favourites winning their preliminary quarter-finals over the weekend, it means that Kerry and Armagh will go head to head in a repeat of last year's semi-final epic, which Armagh won on their way to the All-Ireland. That's because Armagh can't play any of the other preliminary round winners - Donegal, Galway and Dublin - as they've met them already in the provincial final or All-Ireland group stages. The draw takes place this morning, ive on RTE Radio, with Joyce's men set to play Monaghan, Meath or Tyrone. Whoever it is, Joyce will be hoping for an extra day's rest after yesterday's 2-26 to 3-21 victory in Newry. Two quarter-finals are set for next Saturday and two for Sunday - and with Galway having gone to Cavan and Newry over the past two weekends, and heading for Croke Park next weekend, it's a hectic schedule. Speaking about Walsh, Joyce said: 'He got a nasty injury. He fell forward and the Down player followed through with the knee on the shoulder so he's a bit of a bother there. 'We left him on for 10 minutes just to see how he got on but he's getting no better so we'll assess him here. We'll go back and see what it is. It looks a nasty injury. 'He was quite sharp after 15 minutes when he got into the game and got the shackles off a bit. He kicked a couple of great twos, kicked the free and kicked the goal.' On next weekend's scheduling, Joyce said: 'I'm not going to ask for anything but you'd be hoping you'd get a break somewhere. 'It would be brilliant if we got a Sunday fixture but again it's not my decision. Whatever's on, we'll show up and play it. 'It's massive. It's huge. But look, we put ourselves in that situation so we're not going to be complaining. We'll get on with it.' The weekend results mean the folllowing for the eight sides. Listed are the counties and who they can play next weekend with the draw due to take place on Monday morning on RTE radio. Kerry: Armagh Armagh: Kerry Dublin: Tyrone, Monaghan or Meath Galway: Tyrone, Monaghan or Meath Tyrone: Dublin or Galway Monaghan: Dublin, Galway or Donegal Donegal: Meath or Monaghan Meath: Dublin, Galway or Donegal.
