Kildare 1-21
Cork 1-13
Kildare caused the upset of the day as they overcame Cork in round 4A of the football qualifiers, running out convincing eight-point winners.
All the pre-match build up focused on Cork and how they would dismantle this Kildare side. It was the latter, however, who dismantled the former.
Kildare got off to a quick start and despite some nip and tuck scoring, Jason Ryan's side were edging their noses in front with excellent scores from Niall Kelly and Ollie Lyons.
They went in at the break leading by 0-11 to 0-5.
The Lilywhites were strong attacking at pace and punished Cork who couldn't seem to find their rhythm thanks to an organised Kildare defence.
After the break, Kildare put the game beyond doubt with an excellent goal from Niall Kelly. Kelly received the ball in the Cork third and blasted into the net to condemn the Rebels to an unlikely defeat.
Cork, for their part, showed good spirit and didn't let the head drop too much, continuing to knock over points, amassing 13 for the afternoon.
Cork's Kevin O'Driscoll was sent off for kicking Cathal McNally and things were going from bad to worse for the Rebels.
Kildare were also reduced to 14 men when Emmet Bolton was given his marching orders for a second bookable offence.
An emphatic scoring display for Kildare and a spirited performance means they will progress with the confidence that was sorely lacking during the Leinster provincial campaign.
SCORERS
Kildare: N Kelly 1-4, O’Flaherty 0-5 (5f), P Fogarty 0-3 (1f), P Cribben, A Smith, M Donnellan (1f, 1’45) 0-2 each, P O’Neill, O Lyons, C McNally 0-1 each.
Cork: C O’Neill 1-4 (1-3f), D O’Connor 0-5 (3f, 1 ‘45), M Collins, P Kerrigan, B Hurley, Brian O’Driscoll (f) 0-1 each.
KILDARE: M Donnellan; O Lyons, C Fitzpatrick, M O’Grady; K Murnaghan, E Doyle. E Bolton; T Moolick, P Cribben; C McNally, E O’Flaherty, P O’Neill; N Kelly, A Smith, E Callaghan. Subs: P Fogarty for Callaghan (35+4 inj), P Kelly for O’Grady (38 inj), M Sherry for O’Flaherty (50 black card), M Conway for McNally (56), F Conway for N Kelly (64)
CORK: K O’Halloran; M Shields, J O’Sullivan, S Cronin; Barry O’Driscoll, J Loughrey, A O’Connor, E Cadogan; C O’Driscoll, M Collins, K O’Driscoll; C O’Neill, P Kerrigan, D O’Connor. Subs: Brian O’Driscoll for Loughrey (12 black card), F Goold for O’Connor (20 inj), B Hurley for C O’Driscoll (h-t), T Clancy for Cronin (43), J O’Rourke for Dorman (48), D Óg Hodnett for O’Sullivan (65)
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