Kildare SFC Final/Moorefield 2-9 Sarsfields 0-11: On an afternoon of little enough tension the only mildly puzzling aspect of yesterday's Kildare county football final was how Sarsfields came to be within four points of local Newbridge rivals Moorefield.
The defending county and provincial champions were so superior in nearly every sector of the field that the match was never in serious doubt.
With two minutes to go the margin was eight but during a whopping six minutes of punctiliously added injury-time Sarsfields chipped away at the deficit and reduced it to respectability by the time referee Joe Foley put them out of their misery.
It was a good display by Moorefield who had to overcome the loss of their captain, Kenny Duane, with what looked like a dislocated shoulder after less than seven minutes.
The champions, to their credit, brought in Frank Hanniffy - listed at 10 in the programme but replaced by Ciarán Kelly before the start - re-organised seamlessly by switching Kevin Murnaghan to wing back and maintained the pressure.
Their ability to dominate started at full back where Kevin O'Neill was composed and aggressive and blew Ciarán Dempsey and then Morgan O'Sullivan out of it before suffering the slight irritation of seeing Sarsfields wing back Gary White switched to the edge of the square where he took two nice points when the credits were rolling.
Overall though the winners coped comfortably with what was thrown at them.
Good movement out of defence and the exemplary link work done by Ronan Sweeney at centrefield meant that they were frequently on the offensive and the only nagging disappointment of the day will be that they should have put a good bit more on the scoreboard.
Sarsfields crashed away with little variety. Strong, physical runs by Dermot Earley and Enda Freaney gained ground but rarely established good shooting opportunities and when such did arise the forwards' execution was poor. It took until the 22nd minute for the challengers to score from play and that, their second point, was it until the break.
Moorefield won't have been thrilled by their own accuracy but there was a greater menace in their approach work and Jason Phillips at full forward posed a frequent threat, able to win ball up high and down low off veteran full back Martin McIntyre - the only disruption to his dominion when centerfielder Alan Barry did well to win a dangerous dropping free back in front of his own goal in the first half.
Otherwise Phillips scored a goal and a point, had a goal disallowed for a square ball, and laid off a nice break to Ross Glavin, who elected to fist a point rather than take on an inviting goal option.
Around Phillips, Patrick Murray and Philip Woulfe made good runs and the former finished well for 1-5, just two points of which came from frees.
Steadily and disrupted only by wides Moorefield pushed to a five-point interval lead, 0-7 to 0-2.
The high point of the winners' afternoon was their first goal a few minutes after the restart. Started at the back by Pauric O'Flynn the move shuttled the ball at speed through Sweeney in the middle before Woulfe did the damage, breaking in from the left and popping the ball invitingly across the square for the in-rushing Murray to bundle it to the net.
To be fair to Sarsfields they kept battling and began to pose at least some problems for the Moorefield defence. Paddy Campbell and Pádraig Brennan came into it more and took a point each from play but having got the margin to five the roof caved in again. It was as if Philips decided to see what would happen if he didn't contest a high ball. The defence obligingly spilled it and the full forward finished.
That was in the 50th minute and the champions contented themselves with adding just one more point while having the luxury of conceding a few stress-free scores.
Manager Dessie Brennan was pleased afterwards, having taken over the team from Séamus Dowling, who led them to an All-Ireland semi-final back in February.
"The goals were crucial - they always are - especially in a local derby because they rise the crowd and they generate energy."
The former Laois player and selector, who hobbled the line on crutches after a recent accidental injury, admitted he had felt a little uncomfortable in the intensity of a very local rivalry.
"I felt like an outsider all week in the run up to the game. However Moorefield had done it before and so had Sarsfields and I was probably the only outsider inside the fence and I was under pressure for that reason."
Ironically, inside the fence yesterday was probably the least pressure he had felt all week.
MOOREFIELD: T Corley; P O'Flynn, K O'Neill, I Lonergan; K Duane (capt.), G Naughton, J Lonergan; R Sweeney (0-1, free), D Flynn; R Glavin (0-1), C Kelly, K Murnaghan; P Murray (1-5, two points frees), J Phillips (1-1), P Woulfe. Subs: F Hanniffy (0-1) for Duane (7 mins), M Treacy for Kelly (53 mins), L Callaghan for Murnaghan (61 mins), R Delaney for Woulfe (61 mins).
SARSFIELDS: G Slicker; S Usher, M McIntyre, C Duffy; N Hedderman, M Dunne (0-1), G White (0-2); D Earley, A Barry (capt.); E Freaney, M O'Sullivan, P Campbell; P Brennan (0-2, one free), C Dempsey (0-1), A Smith (0-2, one free. Subs: M Browne for Freaney (37 mins), S McKenzie-Smith for O'Sullivan (50 mins), A McLernan for Barry (51 mins), E O'Sullivan (0-1) for Campbell (59 mins), D Earley for Brennan (59 mins).
Referee: Joe Foley (Castlemitchell)
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