Dublin shuffle deck but still have too much for Kildare

Dublin put themselves in a very strong position to top Group 3 of the All-Ireland series after they pulled away for a nine-point win over Kildare in the sunshine at Nowlan Park.

Dessie Farrell's side started without a number of players, such as Jack McCaffrey, Davy Byrne, Ciaran Kilkenny, Paul Mannion, and they were forced into a further late change when Cormac Costello was a late withdrawal due to precaution over an ankle injury.

However, in a show of real strength in depth, some of their replacements went on to have outstanding games, particularly Colm Basquel who ended the game as their top scorer with five points.

Having been pushed hard by Kildare in the provincial championship this was a return to the norm, but Dessie Farrell will hope that the knocks picked up by John Small and Con O'Callaghan are not significant.

The opening of the game was played at a helter-skelter pace and after a frantic end to end opening quarter, the scores were tied at 0-05 points apiece.

Dublin appeared to be playing a risky game at that stage of the match by pushing up the field and leaving gaps at the back but the closest Kildare came to punishing them to the maximum was an eighth minute shot by Darragh Kirwan that brought a smart save out of Stephen Cluxton.

Gradually Dublin began to wear Kildare down and six unanswered points moved them into an 0-11 to 0-05 lead by the 25th minute.

Dublin led by 0-13 to 0-08 at the half-time break but had to then weather an early storm from Kildare at the start of the second half. Ben McCormack scored the first two points after the restart but Kildare proved to be their own worst enemies when two pieces of squandered possession led to points from Sean Bugler and a Dean Rock free.

That set the tone for an