McLoughlin comes off bench to fire Kildare past Fermanagh into Tailteann Cup final

Limerick will play Kildare in next month’s Tailteann Cup final after seeing off Fermanagh by 1-13 to 0-9 at Croke Park today.

James McGrath’s goal at the death put a firm seal on the Lilywhites victory as they progressed to their first ever decider in the second-tier competition.

Brian Flanagan’s men edged a tight first-half at headquarters thanks to points from Alex Beirne and Darragh Kirwan that saw them hold a 0-7 to 0-6 advantage at the interval.

Kildare 0-12 Fermanagh 0-08: A second two-pointer for Brian McLaughlin, whose introduction has proven an inspirational change for Kildare

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Fermanagh had landed the first two points of the semi-final via Conor Love and Darragh McGurn, but they were wiped out by Kevin Feely’s two-pointer at the other end and favourites would go on to eventually lead by the minimum at the break.

Fionan O’Brien tied things up for the Ernesiders with the first point of the second-half before Kildare introduced Brian McLoughlin to the fray and he’d go on to contribute 0-5 in a ‘Man of the Match’ display in just 25 minutes.

McLoughlin shot back-to-back points before sailing over a two-pointer that put four between the teams and, while Josh Largo Elis replied for the Ulster men, it’d be cancelled out by McLoughlin ahead of McGrath’s goal late on wrapping up a seven-point win that sees Flanagan’s charges on to a decider date with Limerick at Croker on July 5th.

"We didn't play well, we were poor on the day, but we found a way to win," Kildare manager Brian Flanagan's candidly admits after overcoming Fermanagh in the semi-finals of the Tailteann Cup pic.twitter.com/FaE1TbQUYF

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