Kildare take out frustrations on on sorry Longford

Kildare had 13 different scorers as they put the miserable season behind them with a resounding victory over Longford at their centre of excellence at Manguard Park.

Any concerns that Kildare supporters may have had about their team's application in the Tailteann Cup were swiftly dismissed with a clinical and ruthless display.

Kildare have been one of the lowest scorers in the country during 2024. In the Leinster semi-final last time out, they kicked a whole host of wides in their defeat to Louth.

Here in the familiar environment of a pitch where they regularly train, they looked right at home and they scored 1-16 in the first half while kicking just one wide.

Darragh Kirwan scored the first point of the game and he set the tone with a superb display at centre forward and he finished the game with six points.

But he wasn’t on his own and Longford were mere bystanders as Kildare took out the frustration of a season that saw them lose eight of their games before this match.

A lack of confidence has been at the heart of many of Kildare’s defeats but that morale began to grow as the scores flowed.

Although they hadn’t scored from play, Longford were in touch by the midway point of the first half, trailing 0-05 to 0-03, but they couldn’t keep pace as Kildare stepped up a gear.

Corner-back Ryan Houlihan scored before two more from Kirwan.

Kildare’s only wide in the first came from a glorious goal chance for Mick O’Grady in the 21st minute but just five minutes later they got the goal they deserved when Paddy Woodgate rounded off a flowing move involving Daniel Flynn and Houlihan.

It was 1-15 to 0-05 at half time and things hardly got any better for Longford in the second half with Kevin Flynn and championship debutants Darragh Swords