O'Mahonys finish with 14 as Kilmessan win

It is hard enough for any team to beat Kilmessan in the SHC this year, but when you give the defending champions the advantage of an extra man for the majority of the game just as Navan O'Mahonys did at Pairc Tailteann on Sunday then you have no chance. Spurred on by their impressive win over Trim in the previous round, Navan O'Mahonys came out for this third round clash with all guns blazing. Perhaps they intended to let Kilmessan know they were in for a tough afternoon, but they took their enthusiasm too far. After a number of questionable challenges in the opening quarter referee Conor Ferguson had enough of the bad tackles and issued a straight red card to Colin O'Rourke following a late challenge on Kilmessan's Nicky Horan. Adrift by 0-1 to 0-5 at that stage, O'Mahonys had no chance of victory against a Kilmessan side that went through the motions for an easy win, even without Christopher Curtis and Joey Keena. The contest was expected to be the tie of the weekend, but instead it was a very disappointing with Kilmessan far too strong for their opponents who are still a good distance away from being genuine Jubilee Cup contenders. What was most disappointing from O'Mahonys was their approach to the game. They seemed intent on unsettling Kilmessan early on by getting stuck in with tough uncompromising challenges and those tactics didn't work. It was surprising that they didn't hurl to the best of their ability as they had done against Trim in the previous round. On Sunday they were also fully deserving of what they got, but this time it didn't make pleasant reading as Kilmessan out-witted and out-hurled them all over the field. Mark Reilly had an exceptional game finishing with 1-3, while the magnificent Horan proved too hot to handle. Ger O'Neill showed no ill-effects of the early roughhouse treatment he received and when the Kilmessan key players settled into their stride they gave as good as they got and added some excellent hurling to the mix. A point from Kevin Keena after 30 seconds set the tone for Kilmessan, but they took a while to push on with O'Mahonys restoring parity four minutes later courtesy of Michael Kelly's effort. However, the remainder of the quarter belonged to the champions with Horan (two, one free), Danny Maguire and Reilly giving Kilmessan their 0-5 to 0-1 lead before O'Rourke was sent-off. That advantage was stretched to 0-10 to 0-2 at the break with O'Mahonys only other point coming from a Ciaran Dunphy free. O'Mahonys needed goals to get back in the game and they never looked like getting them. Dunphy had a 20-metre free stopped on the line by Stephen Clynch before Reilly stretched Kilmessan's lead to 0-11 to 0-2. A brace of frees from Dunphy was followed by points from play for Horan and Peter Reynolds before Dunphy and Horan exchanged points to leave Kilmessan 0-14 to 0-5 ahead at the end of the third-quarter. Navan O'Mahonys failed to score again and in the closing 10 minutes Kevin Keena and O'Neill pointed either side of Reilly's good goal to secure Kilmessan's easy win and push them along in their relentless march towards retaining the Meath SHC. Kilmessan - M Brennan; P McGovern, D Donnelly, C Keena; M Horan, S Clynch, R Donnelly; G O'Neill (0-1), P Farrell; N Horan (0-7, four frees), P Reynolds (0-1), M Doyle; M Reilly (1-3), K Keena (0-2), D Maguire (0-2). Navan O'Mahonys - J Burke; C Reilly, S Duignan, D Moran; K O'Rourke, R Hogan, A Snow; D Hogan, P Smyth; P Coone, S Kane, C O'Rourke; S Quirke, M Kelly (0-1), C Dunphy (0-4, three frees). Sub - P Skehan for Quirke 34 mins. Referee - Conor Ferguson (Gaeil Cholmcille).