Kildare County 0 - 8 Sporting Fingal

Rampant Sporting Fingal crushed poor Kildare County 8-0 at Station Road on Friday night with Eamonn Zayed and Shaun Williams both grabbing doubles.

Goals from Zayed, Conan Byrne and Robbie Doyle had the away side on easy street by half-time, before Zayed, Williams twice, Conan Byrne again and substitute Ross Gaynor completed the rout in the second period.

Fingal were dominant from start to finish, and the gulf between the two sides was evident throughout. However, Kildare contributed to their own downfall with some schoolboy defending and were perhaps fortunate not to lose by more.

In truth, the result was not wholly unexpected. If evidence were needed of the gulf between these two sides then it was provided by the starting line-ups. After shipping four goals away to Longford in their previous outing, Kildare manager Thomas Donnelly made five changes. Alan Thorpe, Cathal Brady and Daithi Garry all came in, while debuts were handed to Noel Byrne and Benny Langan.

Sporting made just one change from their win over Wexford Youths with Robert Bayly replacing the injured Shane McFaul in midfield, with Doyle again linking up with Zayed in attack.

Zayed should have put his side ahead inside the opening 60 seconds. Williams burst from midfield and played a dangerous diagonal ball across the box to the unmarked Zayed, but the former Drogheda striker fluffed his shot from six yards. Doyle then flashed a shot narrowly over, before Zayed atoned for his earlier miss on fourteen minutes when he fired his side ahead with a sweet strike from the edge of the area. Alan Kirby's corner broke to Zayed on the corner of the area and his dipping half-volley flew into the postage stamp corner, giving Kildare 'keeper Colin Cassidy no chance.

The one way traffic continued with Doyle drawing a fine save from Cassidy on 20 minutes, before Kildare almost grabbed a fortunate equaliser on the counter attack five minutes later.

It was to be the home side's only real opportunity of a first half in which they were totally outclassed by their big spending opponents. Zayed should have grabbed his second of the night on 26 minutes when he latched onto Conan Byrne's neat flick, but he couldn't find a way past the out-rushing Cassidy who saved low to his left.

The pressure from Sporting was relentless and there was little surprise when they eventually did double their lead on 34 minutes. County only had themselves to blame too as they continuously failed to clear their lines. Rory Browne attempted to hook the ball clear on the penalty spot but the spun off his shin and into the path of Byrne who was left with the simplest of finishes. That was to be Browne's final act as he was hauled off to be replaced by Eoin Kavanagh.

The increasingly influential Williams flashed a long range shot narrowly over for Sporting before Doyle added a third on 43 minutes from the penalty spot after Williams had been needlessly hacked down.

Kildare were no doubt relieved to hear the half-time whistle. However, there was to be little let-up for them after the interval as Fingal ran riot. The away side were denied what to looked to be a stonewall penalty on 46 minutes when Thorpe batted away a Zayed shot with his arm. The referee, perhaps taking pity on the bewildered home side, waved Zayed's claims away.

Zayed got his just rewards three minutes later when he grabbed his second of the game. He collected Kirby's pass and spun Langan on the edge of the area before slotting home into the helpless Cassidy's bottom left corner. Cassidy then denied Zayed his hattrick just before the hour mark with a fingertip tip after Zayed had shot from the edge of the 18-yard box.

Fingal were hungry for more goals and Williams duly added two more inside three minutes. The first of those, Fingal's fifth, came after 66 minutes when he nodded home Doyle's cross from the left. He duly added a seventh for his side on 69 minutes. Conan Byrne then added Sporting's seventh with what was arguably goal of the night, slamming home a powerful free-kick from all of 25 yards.

Gaynor then rounded off the scoring for Sporting on 82 minutes with the simplest of finishes following yet more calamitous defending from the home side. Cassidy tried to clear from inside his own six yard box, but the ball landed at the feet of Zayed who coolly passed the ball across the goal line and substitute Gaynor tapped it home.

The result leaves Kildare languishing at the bottom of the table with just one point from their opening four games. Worryingly for Donnelly, his side have now conceded 12 goals in their last two games. There's little respite for them either, with an ominous trip to unbeaten UCD awaiting next weekend.

Kildare County: Colin Cassidy; Daithi Garry, Paul Rigney, Alan Thorpe (Karl Hegarty, 70), Benny Langan, Rory Browne (Eoin Kavanagh, 34), Cathal Brady (Orrin Farrell, 59), Colin Osborne, Leslie Kelly, Patrick Mahon, Noel Byrne.
Subs not used: Pat Dobbs, Kevin McDonnell.

Sporting Fingal: Darren Quigley; Colm James, Philip Byrne, Shaun Maher, John Frost (Brian Gannon 46); Conan Byrne, Robert Bayly, Shaun Williams (Fiachra McArdle 73), Alan Kirby, Eamon Zayed; Robbie Doyle (Ross Gaynor 66).
Subs not used: James Hussey (gk), Gareth Whelan.

Referee: Brendan Kelly

Attendance: 200 (estimate)

Extratime man of the match: Eamonn Zayed (Sporting Fingal) - ran debutant Langan ragged all night long and could easily have bagged four or five goals himself.