Down to 17 men, Mater Dei came from 32 points down midway through the third quarter to score an unbelievable win over arch-rival Kildare Catholic College.

A goal to Sam Lucas with less than a minute on the clock put Mater Dei in front and gave them a famous victory, 6.10 (46) to 7.3 (45).

Up by 14 points at half-time, Kildare kicked the first three goals of the third quarter to move 32 points clear and were set to clearly upstage Mater Dei.

With their two best players, Matt Kennedy and Jock Cornell, on the sidelines, Mater Dei dug in deep and kicked the final two goals of the third term to get back within 19 points at the final change.

Mater Dei then kept Kildare scoreless and kicked the only three goals of the final term to pull off a miraculous win.

Mater Dei coach Nathan Irvine summed it up.

“It’s one of the best wins I’ve been associated with,” Irvine said.

“To be a man down before half-time and then to be able to come home like that, we always believed the boys had the ability but Kildare were outhussling us in the first half.

“Their attack on the contest and their spread from the contest was good and they played really direct, where as we tried to play around with it too much, rather than getting it down to big players.

“Some of our senior boys were down in the first half and they really started to stand up in the second half, especially that last quarter.”

Luke Cuthbert, who defied recommendations to play, produced a standout performance from half-back to win the Mark Gooden Medal.

Matt Geppert kicked two final term goals, and played a hand in the third, to have a big influence on the result, while Lachlan Flagg, Brady Morton and Jackson Sanbrook all played big parts in the comeback.

Earlier, just before half-time, Nick McCormack was controversially red carded for allegedly striking, and then arguing the decision, leaving Mater Dei to 17 men.

Full-time

MATER DEI (46)

1.3 1.7 3.8 6.10

KILDARE (45)

2.2 4.3 7.3 7.3

Goals: (Mater Dei) M Geppert 2, N McCormack, J Hodge, W Keogh, S Lucas; (Kildare) J McCaig 2, E Schiller, M McGowan, J Gaynor, J Gunning, T Anderson.

Best: (Mater Dei) L Cuthbert, B Myers, L Redfern, C Chambers, Z Walgers, L Flagg; (Kildare) J Gaynor, L Gaffney, E Schiller, T Anderson, D Bos, T Quinn.