:: Kildare GAA ::

TYRONE 0-16 KILDARE 1-11EXCUSE Tyrone if they celebrated for it reflected a strange kind of glory on their beaten foes.Not for the first time this year Kildare lost a game they might have won only this time the final whistle stopped them two points short of the All-Ireland champions. That’s quite a statement about a Kildare football team that didn’t lace boots for the month of August two years ago.In Kildare minds there is little room for deep reflections just yet. This was the end of something that could have been quite special.As in the Leinster final against Dublin Kieran McGeeney’s side came off second best in a game that had two winners. Games like these inspire the next generation as much as they bear witness to the progress of the current one.That opening 35 minutes is a passage of football that the Lilies haven’t produced since they had one hand on the Sam Maguire in the 1998 All-Ireland final defeat to Galway. Then, as now, they had scored a first half goal which was good enough for a three point lead at the break, 1-5 to 0-5. In the 15 minutes after half-time Kildare scored just once as they fell five points behind.Another barren 15 minute spell against Tyrone proved a large part of their undoing again and of all the clichés about sport we never thought we’d see a bit of history repeat itself in a 2009 All-Ireland quarter-final.This was an All-Ireland final for many players in white and at the very least a final examination of their capabilities now that the last chance saloon had shut its doors with the conclusion of the All-Ireland qualifiers.But it’s dangerous to hang around with the best students. They’ll make your B-grade feel like a failure and for all the good things Kildare did in Sunday’s crucial test they will feel like they’ve achieved nothing at all.Where’s the silverware to show for all the games they’ve played and won this year? No promotion from the league after so much promise, no Leinster title and now no chance of a tilt at the ultimate prize.“It’s results that we will ultimately be judged upon,” said McGeeney earlier in the year.Fans are clinging to progress they can measure but can’t celebrate wildly about.Yet they did dare to dream of those wild celebrations at half-time against Tyrone. Although Kildare have put together more exciting periods of play and more fruitful ones, they have never quelled an attack quite like this one - they had never faced an attack like this before.There was never any concession of space or spirit to the team that want to conquer the footballing world for the fourth time this decade. After two early John Doyle points they watched Tyrone draw level with ease and then hit them with a goal. Ronan Sweeney’s finish was emblematic of a team that has total belief. The build-up involved a handful of players and at any stage James Kavanagh could have settled for an easier point.Sweeney slid the ball into the net and yet there was no sense of euphoria. It was a score and it was three for the price of one but it just another dent in the Kildare workload.That was why they returned to kick four unanswered points after Tyrone made a good response with a point each from Davey Harte and Stephen O’Neill.Doyle tapped over a free, Callaghan got his customary point, Kavanagh pointed from a ridiculous position in the right corner and Alan Smith combined brilliantly with his captain for a simple score in front of the posts.As the referee prepared to call a wrap on the half Doyle converted a sideline kick from 30 metres down the Hogan Stand side of the field and Kildare’s body of work now included an impressive total of 1-7. They didn’t know it then but the six points they conceded was too much. When Tyrone returned after the break they doubled that tally in 12 minutes. Kildare had picked a good route but they hadn’t gone fast enough and now they weren’t moving at all.And that made the next five minutes all the more remarkable. Doyle landed three more points, two frees and the most beautiful score of the day, back across his left shoulder from the right wing.Even when Tyrone threw down another potential winning hand with points from Brian Dooher and O’Neill, Mick Foley kicked an equaliser.Two more points followed for their opponents as they kicked, rounding the final bend.Kildare kept on the shoulder but couldn’t get past and ran out of track. Five late wides didn’t help but the damage had been done after half-time.

Kildare should remember what happened before that break arrived. They beat the best the game might have ever seen in 35 minutes but now they know they have to double their efforts next year.

KILDARE: Tom Corley; Gary White, Hugh McGrillen, Emmet Bolton; Mick Foley (.-.), Brian Flanagan, Morgan O’Flaherty; Dermot Earley, Daryl Flynn; James Kavanagh (.-.), Padraig O’Neill ., John Doyle (.-., .fs, . sideline); Alan Smith (.-.), Ronan Sweeney (.-.), Eamonn Callaghan (.-.). Subs: Aindriú Mac Lochlainn for Bolton (inj), ..; Robert Kelly for Sweeney, ..; Ken Donnelly for O’Neill, ..; Kevin O’Neill for Flynn, ..; W Heffernan for Callaghan, ..TYRONE: Paschal McConnell; PJ Quinn, Conor Gormley, Justin McMahon (.-.); Davey Harte (.-.), Ryan McMenamin, Philip Jordan; Sean Cavanagh, Kevin Hughes; Brian Dooher (.-.), Tommy McGuigan (.-.f), Joe McMahon; Martin Penrose ( Stephen O’Neill (.-., .fs), Owen Mulligan (.-.). Subs: Brian McGuigan for McGuigan, ..; Sean O’Neill . for Quinn, ..REFEREE: Gearoid O Conamha,

Kildare left Raw