Baz O’Connor hat-trick for County

A Barry O’Connor hat-trick earned Kildare County a 3-0 victory over Monaghan United and kept them in the running for a place in the First Division play-offs .

Kildare now face a showdown with Limerick on Sunday at Pike Rovers Sports Centre knowing that nothing less than a victory will suffice, but having so thoroughly beaten Monaghan on Saturday, they will be confident of success.

O’Connor was Kildare’s hero and he set the ball rolling in the 18th minute when he headed home a Shay Zeller cross. Early in the second half, he made it 2-0 with a carbon copy of the opening goal and shortly afterwards he made it 3-0 with a finished a fine cross from Marc Kenny.

Teams:
Kildare County: O’Leary, Brennan, Kelly, Keely, R Kenny, Whelehan, M Kenny, Scully, Zeller, O’Connor, McNevin.
Subs: Ryan for Scully (48 mins), Rogers for McNevin (72 mins), Purdy for Kelly (79 mins).

Monaghan United: Munteanu, Gifford, Mooney, O’Keeffe, Doyle, Whelan, King, Shiels, Vaughan, Kerley, Treanor.
Subs: O’Brien for King (57 mins), Collins for Gifford (61 mins), McCrudden for Kerley (74 mins).

Referee: H McDermott (Dublin).




Kildare County 3-0 Monaghan Utd
A hat-trick of headers from Barry O’Connor ensured that Kildare County go into next weekend’s final round of matches with a chance of eclipsing Limerick FC and seizing the final play-off spot.

Kildare are now two points behind their chief rivals, but with a massive clash to take place between the sides at the Pike Rovers Sports Ground next Saturday, they will climb back into fourth with a victory.

It will be no easy ride for Kildare - their form has been decidedly mixed of late while Limerick go into the final game of the season on the back of six straight victories.

They only need a draw to book their place in the end-of-season play-offs .

O’Connor opened the scoring with a 19th minute header from Shay Zeller’s well-placed cross, and added a second with an almost carboncopy goal nine minutes after half-time with Zeller again the provider.

The former Bray Wanderers forward made certain of the points by completing his hat-trick on 64 minutes, heading home Marc Kenny’s cross after John Ryan’s excellent cross-field ball had found the former Shamrock Rovers midfielder in space.