
Kildare v Laois LIVE score updates from the final of the Joe McDonagh Cup
A win for the Lilywhites would earn them a place in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship for the first time since 2004.
Their appearance in the final didn't look likely when losing to Kerry on the opening day, but they have won four from four since to book their place in the decider.
That run of four consecutive victories included a shock 11-point win over Laois in the penultimate round of action.
Laois are the slight favourites though, with experience of these occasions on their side, and having snatched a draw in Carlow to make the final.
The match is scheduled for a 1.45pm throw-in at Croke Park, and you can follow all the action right here on Irish Mirror Sport.
Laois last won the Joe McDonagh Cup in 2019 and were beaten finalists by Offaly twelve months ago.
But the county made this year's final by the skin of their teeth. Ahead of their final group match against Carlow, they knew they only needed a draw to make the decider.
All seemed to be lost, though, when, deep into additional time at Netwatch Cullen Park, they trailed by three points.
They were awarded a 65, though, that was fired towards goal by Podge Delaney and ended up finding the back of the net via James Duggan and Mark Dowling.
That was enough to send Laois through to the final, where Kildare now stand in their way of lifting the Joe McDonagh Cup.
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Irish Daily Mirror
8 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Man who gave Ger Brennan his break backs new Dublin boss for All-Ireland glory
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Irish Examiner
20 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Collier credits friend Brian Cody for speech which gave Laois belief at start of season
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We just weren't taking opportunities, you know? So look, we went in at half-time, in a good place. We told them to not panic. And in the third and fourth quarter, we pushed on. 'And I think it was up to our subs that came on too, and we got a goal at a crucial time. I say to the girls all the time, the whole panel, it always takes 20 girls to win it and it showed today.' They paid more attention to the breaking ball in the second half but away from this day and this match, Collier pointed to a hurling hero of yore, giving the players a speech at the start of the year that infused them with belief. 'For me, huge credit goes to a man called Brian Cody, who is a good friend of mine. We brought him up the first night we met, in January 28. I won't forget it, he came up and he gave a speech. 'There's a selector of ours, he is a character. And he said to us after, if you were in the graveyard, you'd get up and hurl. The girls really bought into what he spoke about, unity and all that. And it had a huge bearing on us getting the ball rolling.' PJ O'Mullan had experienced the joys of All-Ireland success as manager of Derry in the intermediate final a couple of years ago. He had a big impact on Armagh, as they blooded a lot of young players this term. He had no arguments about Laois' superiority, was proud of his players but just disappointed that they were unable to produce their best on the most important day. 'We're disappointed as much as they kept going to the end and died with their boots on,' said O'Mullan. 'I am so proud of them but we didn't play the way we can play. We gave the ball away too much and you can't do that when you're in Croke Park. You have to use the ball better and take your chances, and we probably had as many chances as they had, but we couldn't score. And if you don't score, you don't win. 'It's a very young team and people don't realise that. The two corner-back that started today were 19, we brought on three 18-year-olds. They're good enough but it's going to be a learning curve. 'We had our homework done. We trained well. Our preparations were good. We had plenty of support from the county board. But we were beaten by the better team. There's plenty of players coming through though from minor and U16 so we will take the learnings. 'We had a great start the second half, we come out and really went for it, and we were two up, and missed two or three easy chances. And if you get one or two more, if you get five or six or four or five in front… but they go up he field the first two shots, point, point. But they were the better team.' How Laois came back can surely motivate Armagh. But they must wait until next year. To the winners the spoils and on this day, those spoils went to Laois. Scorers for Laois: A Collier 0-7(6fs); G Delaney 1-2; A Daly 1-0; K O'Keeffe 0-2; E Hassett, C Tynan, S Delaney, L Conroy 0-1 each Scorers for Armagh: R Merry 0-8(7fs); S Quinn 0-2; N Forker, C Doyle 0-1 each LAOIS: A Lowry, F Scully, E Conroy, L Finaly, A Walsh, C Tynan, S Creagh, A Tynan, Líadan C Fennell, G Delaney, K Keenan, E Hassett, K O'Keeffe, A Collier, E Hassett. Subs: L Conroy for Keenan (28); A Daly for E Hassett (42); L Keyes for Walsh (54); S Jones for Fennell (60+1) ARMAGH: C Devlin, M O'Hare, G McCann, E Hayes, ML Loughran, M McCone, A McEntee, G Gaffney, C Hill, M O'Callaghan, K Convie, N Forker, R Merry, S Quinn, C Doyle. Subs: F Loughran for L Loughran, E McGeary for Gaffney (both 42); L McConnell for Forker (54) Referee: E Loughnane (Galway)


Extra.ie
a day ago
- Extra.ie
Neil McManus shares thoughts on Cork's half-time debacle
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