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July 08, 2009

Kildare v Dublin in the Leinster Football Final

Croke Park

The Leinster Football Final between Kildare and Dublin takes place in Croke Park on Sunday 12 July at 2.00pm. Live coverage of the match is on TV3.


The Kildare's Leinster SFC semi-final win over Laois was impressive and manager Kieran McGeeney will be hoping to win a Leinster for Kildare this Sunday against Dublin, having made significant progress in this years championship.


On the way to this years final, Kildare beat Offaly by 1-16 to 1-10, Wexford by 2-12 to 0-11 and Laois by 2-18 to 0-09. Thats 5 goals and 46 points in 3 games which is quite impressive, averaging over 20 points per game.


Dublin were very impressive winners over Westmeath in the Leinster Semi Final, scoring 4-26 in the process. They defeated Meath by 2 points in the previous round scoring 14 points.

Kildare were last in a Leinster Final in 2003 where they lost to Laois by a goal. They also contested the 2002 and 2000 finals, both against Dublin. They lost in 2002, but won in 2000, the last time Kildare won a Leinster Final, 9 years ago.


Kildare also won the Leinster Final in 1998 againast Meath and went on to appear in the All Ireland Final against Galway that year, which they lost by 4 points.

The Dubs are odds on favourites to take their 5th Leinster in a row on Sunday having won it on the previous 4 occasions. They won last years final against Wexford by 3-23 to 0-09 so it will not be easy to break their winning streak in Leinster.


Kildare will have no fear though, and led by All Ireland Winner Kieran McGeeney, it is likely to be a tough, close contest between the 2 top teams in Leinster this year.

Dublin who have already played both Meath and Westmeath at Croke Park this summer, will be more than familiar with championship matches at GAA Headquarters, while Kildare's three championship outings to date have been played at provincial venues.
Whether this proves to be advantage remains to be seen, but it is very unlikely to be as easy a contest for Dublin as the recent Leinster Semi Final was.