Kildare enjoy Friday night lights to end Carlow's 100% record

Carlow suffered their first defeat in 2A of the Allianz Hurling League as Kildare finished with a flourish under the lights at Hawkfield to take the win.

The Barrowsiders were reduced to 14 men as early as the second minute when Jon Nolan was dismissed, yet led by two points at the interval.

They looked set to complete the group stage with a 100% record before Kildare's Jack Sheridan struck a goal in the last minute of the contest to nudge the Lillies ahead, before sealing the deal with two further points in a 1-16 to 0-15 victory.

The result was academic for Carlow, who will now plan for a 2A final, expected to be in Netwatch Cullen Pk on 30/31 March.

The early dismissal was a dramatic start to the game, with the referee consulting his fellow officials before giving Nolan his marching orders.

Carlow’s Chris Nolan and Kildare’s Declan Flaherty were both lively in their respective attacks, and two minutes prior to the interval the dozen scores were evenly split between the teams.

Carlow however finished with three of the closing four scores, Marty Kavanagh (free), John Doyle and Evan Kealy all splitting the posts to give the visitors a 0-09 to 0-07 advantage.

Nolan and Kavanagh continued to keep Carlow noses in front after the resumption, and on the hour mark Kildare were also down to 14 when James Burke received his second yellow card.

A Kevin McDonald free in the 67th minute pushed the advantage out to two, but that proved to be Carlow’s final score of the game as Sheridan’s last-minute goal was followed by two injury-time points as the hosts ran out four-point winners.