Leinster Senior Football Championship Quarter-Final

Saturday, April 12 | Cedral St. Conleth’s Park | 7:00pm

Teams announced Friday – Live GAA scores on Irishscores.com

Saturday night lights in Newbridge will see Kildare take on Westmeath, with both sides opening their Leinster Championship campaigns. The Lilywhites finished top of Division 3 this spring but fell to Offaly in the final, while Westmeath’s form has plummeted since their Division 3 title last year, leading to relegation from Division 2.

These sides last met in 2022 when Kildare edged a high-scoring semi-final, and recent history is on the home side’s side. Westmeath haven’t beaten Kildare in the championship since 2016, and their seven-game winless streak across league and championship this season doesn’t bode well.

Glenn Ryan will demand a response from his Kildare charges after a stinging league final defeat. Daniel Flynn and Kevin Feely will be central to their hopes. Westmeath, meanwhile, need a spark. John Heslin remains a key figure, and their midfield battle will be crucial to containing Kildare’s runners.

The winners will face either Laois or Louth in the semi-finals.

Team News

Line-ups will be revealed on Friday. Visit Irishscores.com and follow official county social channels for updates.

The post Kildare v Westmeath – Preview, Team News & Live Scores appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

O’Neill joins Padraic Joyce’s Galway backroom after leaving the Cork senior football setup following the end of the 2021 season.

The upcoming season will be Joyce’s third in charge and the team will aim to go one further than the final of the Connacht Senior Football Championship.

They will also hope to return to Division One of the National Football League at the first time of asking.

The Kildare native left the Cork setup after their Munster Senior Football Championship final collapse led to the departure of manager Ronan McCarthy.

He had previously been in charge of his home county’s senior footballers from 2015 until 2019.

It was a period that saw the Lilywhites reach the Leinster Senior Football Championship final in 2017 and knock All-Ireland finalists Mayo out of the Championship the next year in the ‘Newbridge or Nowhere’ game.

O’Neill made a name for himself as a trainer on Liam Sheedy’s backroom in the manager’s first stint with the Tipperary hurlers.

He was involved with the Kerry senior footballers as part of Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s backroom and has also worked with the Limerick and Mayo footballers.

The post Galway appoint Cian O’Neill to senior football backroom appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Dublin beat Kildare by 0-20 to 1-9 in Croke Park to retain the Delaney Cup and win their 60th Leinster title overall.

Dessie Farrell’s side was not perfect on Sunday but a strong third quarter put the game beyond any doubt after a close third half.

The eight-point win margin was the county’s lowest in a Leinster final since 2013 when Jim Gavin’s Dublin beat Meath by seven points (2-14 to 0-15) on their way to a first All-Ireland out of six under the 10-year Dublin veteran.

Dessie Farrell gave his thoughts on the Delaney Cup win over Kildare in a post-game interview with DubsTV.

The inter-county manager lamented his side’s shot selection in the first half after they squandered several chances.

The side looked as if they wanted to walk the ball through the Kildare defence and it was detrimental to their impact in the opening half.

Their strong third quarter saw the side revert to taking high-possibility chances when presented with them.

“Having discussed it at half-time, the players themselves saw that as a challenge,” Farrell said.

Kildare played the game defensively with some extra players dropping back to stifle the Dubs’ impact in attack.

Their set-up led to Dublin often moving the ball from side to side in an attempt to open up spaces for their forwards to take advantage of.

Ciarán Kilkenny led the Dubs’ third-quarter charge with two points, with Niall Scully also grabbing two in a period that was worthy of the Leinster title.

Dublin’s focus now turns to their All-Ireland semi-final showdown with Connacht champions Mayo, in a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland final.

“[Mayo] were very, very impressive in that second-half performance against Galway in the Connacht final. Very little separates the teams over the year’s so I think everyone can expect a massive tussle.”

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