Offaly renew acquaintances with Kildare in Tailteann Cup quarter final on Saturday

A PLACE in the semi-finals of the Tailteann Cup will be at stake when Offaly senior footballers travel to Newbridge on Saturday evening to take on Kildare in an eagerly anticipated quarter final tie.

It was certainly the pick of the quarter final ties to come out of the hat on Monday morning and should draw a good crowd to Newbridge.

The game has a 6.30pm throw in and will be preceded by the All-Ireland preliminary hurling quarter final at 4pm between newly crownded Joe McDonagh Cup winners Kildare and Dublin.

Saturday's game will be the third meeting this year between Kildare and Offaly and the Faithful County came out on top in the two previous games.

They first met in a Division 3 group game at O'Connor Park in mid March with promotion very much at stake. Offaly produced one of their best performances of the group to come out on top by 2-17 to 0-17, a result that meant they had one foot in Division 2 and they sealed promotion the following weekend.

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Kildare claimed the second promotion spot and that meant the two sides met again at the end of March in Croke Park in the Division 3 final. It was another close affair and Offaly once again scored 2-17 with Kildare increasing their tally to 1-18 but Offaly came out on top by two points to win the Division 3 title.

Now the sides must do it all again and another tough battle is at stake for both sides. While both will be disappointed not to have made further progress in the Leinster Championship, both acquitted themselves well and they have shown good form in the Tailteann Cup.

Offaly exited the Leinster Championship after a tight game with Meath in Navan when some late scores gave Meath a somewhat flattering seven point victory margin, 1-25 to 0-21.

Offaly began their Tailteann Cup campaign with a 2-13 to 0-11 victory over Wicklow but struggled at times away to Waterford before winning by 1-18 to 1-13. A place in the knock out stages was already assured before they faced Laois in Newbridge the weekend before last when a last minute goal from a penalty gave Laois a two point victory, 3-18 to 3-16. That defeat and their failure to defeat Waterford by a bigger margin, ultimately cost them top spot in their group, which would have given them last weekend off and a home quarter final next weekend. As it was they had to play a preliminary quarter final last Saturday when they had a big win over New York, 2-25 to 1-12.

Kildare hosted Westmeath in the Leinster quarter final and were pushed all the way before edging home by two points, 2-17 to 0-21 to set up a semi-final meeting with Louth in Tullamore. It was another close encounter but the Wee County came out on top by 1-18 to 0-18.

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In the Tailteann Cup Kildare romped through their group to comfortably finish on top of the table, shooting big tallies along the way. They began by beating Leitrim at home by 0-36 to 0-11 before travelling to Clonmel and defeating Tipperary by 3-19 to 1-11. They finished with a 4-19 to 1-24 victory over Sligo in Roscommon to seal top spot in the group.

A home game in Newbridge will be seen as an advantage for Kildare and they will be determined to make up for their two losses to Offaly earlier in the year.

When the challenge has been put down to them this year Offaly have produced their best games and they will be hoping that continues on Saturday. Their scoring returns have improved in their last few matches and that will be a welcome boost as well. They know they are capable of beating Kildare and will be looking to complete that hatrick of victories over them on Saturday.

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Kildare have been running up big scores of late but they will face tougher opposition this weekend and that will be the test for them. With the home crowd behind them they will probably go into the game as favourites but that could add pressure too.

The two previous encounters have been close affairs and this one is likely to go down to the wire again.