Kildare hold off Limerick to secure Tailteann Cup and return to Sam Maguire action
This was a
Tailteann Cup
final that
Kildare
, desperate to return to the Sam Maguire Cup race in 2026, simply couldn't afford to lose. And they almost did.
Well, that's not entirely accurate. Had
Limerick
substitute Rory O'Brien's shot at goal gone in, well after the siren had sounded, instead of deflecting over for a point, it would have only secured extra-time.
Still, given Kildare's Croke Park record – they'd only won eight of 28 championship games there since the 2010 All-Ireland semi-final loss to Down – you wouldn't have been putting the mortgage on them getting the job done.
That's not to say they didn't deserve their two-point win though. They were just about good value for it overall, the scores throughout the 70 minutes or so coming that little bit easier for them.
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Darragh Kirwan got plenty of them, 0-8 in total, while Alex Beirne scored Kildare's only goal and finished with 1-2.
For the second game running, there was a big impact from the bench from Brian McLoughlin also. The 2018 All-Ireland under-20 final goalscorer struck five points in the semi-final win over Fermanagh after coming on and provided another important cameo this time, shooting three points.
It was McLoughlin's 55th-minute two-pointer that really energised Kildare, tying the game at that stage and further deflating Limerick, who'd just kicked two point attempts short at the other end.
From there, Kildare kicked on with a series of scores in front of their supporters on the Hill 16 terrace, opening up a four-point lead which proved decisive in the end.
It's Kildare's first piece of serious silverware since winning the Division Two final in 2012. They beat Tyrone in that decider and are desperate to get back to those levels after a disappointing few seasons under Glenn Ryan.
It's early days yet under his replacement, Brian Flanagan, but 12 wins from 15 competitive games in 2025 has yielded promotion back to Division Two as well as their return to the All-Ireland SFC in 2026.
Limerick's Tommie Childs is tackled by Kildare's Brendan Gibbons and Brian Byrne during the
Tailteann Cup Final at Croke Park. Photograph: Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho
'We have a really united panel, a really ambitious panel and one that sees this as just the start of something,' said Flanagan.
'This isn't the end by any means of anything – it is just purely the beginning. It is year one of what we hope will be four or maybe more.
'Winning was so, so important, and lifting silverware, so that you had in your mentality, so you had it in your psyche going forward because there's much bigger challenges that lie ahead for us.
'We're going to Division Two next year and we now have Sam Maguire Cup football nailed on. What this year has done is proven that we deserve to be there. We've earned our spot in both of them. And we didn't get it easy, we had to beat the best teams.'
Limerick manager Jimmy Lee insisted that he has 'no regrets' about how things turned out.
But his side were two ahead with 20 minutes to go after goals from captain Cillian Fahy and Killian Ryan. Between the 20th and 48th minutes, they outscored Kildare by 1-12 to 0-6 to take control of the game and nudge two points clear, 2-15 to 1-16.
Point attempts that dropped short, others that flew wide, and three goal chances overall that weren't converted all came back to haunt Limerick, ruining their bid to become the first Division Four team to win the Tailteann Cup.
Instead it was Kildare who became the third Leinster team in the four-season history of the B championship to claim the silverware.
KILDARE:
C Burke; B Byrne, R Burke, H O'Neill; T Gill (0-0-1), D Hyland, J McGrath; K Feely (0-0-2, 1f), B Gibbons; C Bolton (0-1-0), D Kirwan (0-2-4), C Dalton (0-0-2); R Sinkey (0-0-3), A Beirne (1-0-2), D Flynn (0-0-1).
Subs:
J McKevitt for McGrath and B McLoughlin (0-1-1) for Gibbons (both 43 mins); E Cully for Flynn (47); M O'Grady for Burke (66).
LIMERICK:
J Ryan (0-1-1, 1 tpf, 1 45); J Hassett, D O'Doherty, M McCarthy; K Ryan (1-0-1), I Corbett (0-0-1), T McCarthy (0-0-3); T Childs (0-0-1), D O'Hagan; P Maher, C Fahy (1-0-1), D Neville (0-0-1); E Rigter (0-0-2), J Naughton (0-0-2, 2f), P Nash (0-0-3, 1f).
Subs:
B Coleman for Childs (16-20 mins, blood); D Murray for O'Hagan (43); Coleman for Maher (47); R Childs for Rigter (55); T Ó Siochrú for Corbett (61); R O'Brien (0-0-1) for T Childs (66).
Referee:
L Devenney (Mayo).
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