Kildare 1-22

Offaly 2-14

Kildare finished strongly to see off neighbours Offaly in a high-scoring All-Ireland SFC qualifier at St. Conleth's Park in Newbridge.

The home supporters in the 5,000-strong crowd must have feared a repeat of the second half collapse to Westmeath in the Leinster SFC semi-final when the Lilywhites had a six-point lead wiped out midway through the second period. But this time they were able to respond, reeling off the last five points to confirm their place in Monday morning's Round 3 draw.

There was a lively opening to the game which saw Adam Tyrrell and Neil Flynn split the posts for the home side and Graham Guilfoyle and Nigel Dunne on target for Offaly. Further points from Niall McNamee and Johnny Moloney had the visitors 0-4 to 0-3 up before a Fergal Conway brace edged the Lilywhites ahead.

They stretched out their lead to four points when Tommy Moolick scored the opening goal in the 15^th minute after his initial shot was blocked by Offaly 'keeper Alan Mulhall.

Offaly hit back with three unanswered points from Dunne (two) and Moloney before Kildare restored their four-point advantage, 1-8 to 0-7, through efforts from Niall Kelly, Kevin Feely and Flynn. Dunne, with his fourth point, and Niall Darby narrowed the gap, but two more Tyrrell points left Kildare with a five-point advantage, 1-12 to 0-10, at the break.

Flynn and Darby traded scores on the restart before Cathal McNally extended Kildare's lead to six points, 1-14 to 0-11. But the deficit was halved when Eoin Rigney teed up Dunne for a well-taken goal in the 41^st minute.

Even though Tyrrell and Moolick had points for the hosts, the momentum remained with Pat Flanagan's men who grabbed a second goal in the space of five minutes when Peter Cunningham blasted a penalty straight down the middle after Moloney had been brought down.

Neil Flynn replied to leave the Lilywhites 1-17 to 2-11 in front, but a black card for captain Eoin Doyle didn't help their cause as Offaly roared back to level with 13 minutes remaining thanks to a trio of points from Dunne (two) and the excellent Cunningham.

Crucially, though, they weren't able to get their noses as two Eoghan O'Flaherty points steadied Cian O'Neill's charges before further scores from Niall Kelly and full back David Hyland lifted them into a 1-21 to 2-14 lead with two minutes of normal time remaining.

Offaly had midfielder Eoin Rigney sent off on a second yellow card, while Cathal McNally was also black-carded late on as Alan Smith came off the bench to seal a five-point victory for Kildare.

Kildare - M Donnellan; P Kelly, D Hyland (0-1), O Lyons; J Byrne, E Doyle, E Bolton; T Moolick (1-1), K Feely (0-1); A Tyrrell (0-4, 2f), M O'Flaherty, F Conway (0-2); C McNally (0-1), N Kelly (0-4), N Flynn (0-5, 2f). Subs: C Fitzpatrick for P Kelly, E O'Flaherty (0-2f) for A Tyrrell, C O'Donoghue for O Lyons, F Dowling for E Doyle (BC), A Smith (0-1) for N Flynn, K Cribbin for C McNally (BC).

Offaly - A Mulhall; B Darby, E Rigney, S Pender; N Darby (0-2, 1f), P Cunningham (1-1, 1-0pen), C Donohue; E Carroll, N Smith; M Brazil, N Dunne (1-7, 0-7f), G Guilfoyle (0-1); A Sullivan, N McNamee (0-1), J Moloney (0-2). Subs: C McNamee for G Guilfoyle, B Allen for M Brazil, J Gethins for C Donohue, J Lalor for P Cunningham.

Referee - P Hughes.

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