Kildare 2 Rovers 3

Hoops made to work hard

Friendly - Kildare County 2 Rovers 3

With a stiff breeze blowing down the pitch and on a very bumpy surface the Hoops started brightly and Baker left the Kildare 'keeper stranded with a fine free-kick to give Rovers the lead after just six minutes. Eoin Doyle made it 2-0 after seventeen minutes when O'Connor returned Bakers original cross and Doyle was on-hand to side foot home.

When Baker punished some sloppy defending, dispossessing a defender and coolly knocking the ball into the net after 26 minutes it looked like the home side would fall apart but they dug deep and Robinson fired home a fine free-kick from outside the area on 32 minutes to get them back into the game. A Baker free-kick on 42 minutes saw Maguire smash a header off the cross-bar. Robinson then shot wide from a tight angle in the box for Kildare.

Sean O'Connor almost punished a poor backpass right after the restart but with both sides making numerous substitutions in the second-half the game never really got going again. Kildare had a great chance to score after 65 minutes when Dan O'Connor was adjudged to have fouled in the area but Coleman dived to his left to save the spot-kick.

The home side finished the game strongly when they went close from a free-kick before Kilduff fired in a shot from outside the area on 81 minutes that Coleman let slip through his legs and into the net.

Line-Out

1 Karl Coleman
2 Ger O'Brien
3 Pat Flynn
4 Daragh Maguire
5 Barry Ferguson
6 Danny O'Connor
7 Eric McGill
8 Stephen Rice
9 Eoin Doyle
10 Dessie Baker
11 Sean O'Connor


Substitutes Used:

13
14
15
16 Keith O'Neill
17 Dave Tyrell
18 Robbie Creevy
19 Chris Mulhall
20 Ross Moran
21 John Martin