One-dimensional Meath surrender Leinster title at the first obstacle

All the excuses in the world can't hide the bare facts as one-dimensional Meath surrendered their Leinster SFC crown with a tame second-half performance against a suspect Kildare at Croke Park on Sunday. Meath can point to the 55th minute dismissal of Brian Farrell following an off-the-ball clash with Emmet Bolton or to the perfectly legitimate fisted goal from Graham Geraghty with eight minutes remaining that was ruled as a square ball, but the writing was on the wall from early in the second-half. Once Kildare manager Kieran McGeeney got his troops into the dressing room and addressed the problems of the long ball from Meath, it was clear there was only going to be one winner. Kildare could afford to kick a mammoth 18 wides and they also dropped five other efforts short into the reliable hands of Brendan Murphy. However, they had many other options whereas Meath were found wanting on too many occasions. There were times in the first-half when the direct style of Meath's play had Kildare in trouble. Paddy O'Rourke and Shane O'Rourke were huge threats and with Stephen Bray feeding off crumbs there was a sense there was more to come from Meath. However, that didn't materialise. Kildare shifted players back to break up the long ball, they cut out the Meath supply from the half-back line and hit them on the counter with enough effect to score a more comfortable win that the six-point margin suggests. There is no questioning the heart of the Meath players. They gave their all throughout against a Kildare side that were super confident and rarely got flustered even when Meath threatened to exert their more natural football on them. It took Meath 25 minutes to settle at midfield and there were times in the opening half when the Royals narrowly escaped Kildare goal chances. Kildare were first to the majority of the initial ball forward, but slight breaks and deflections fell kindly to Kevin Reilly and Gary O'Brien and that allowed Meath avert much of the first-half danger. Those breaks didn't go Meath's way after the interval. Everything that fell ended up on Kildare's side. Eamonn Callaghan and Bolton put on a master class of offensive counter-attacking as Graham Reilly and both Ciaran Lenehan and especially Mark O'Sullivan wilted. Lenehan and O'Sullivan will both want to quickly forget their championship debuts, but some of the more senior players will also hope to put their individual displays to the back of their minds. Work rate was not the problem. The issues are more systematic than that. When the long ball attack failed, there was no plan B. Careless handling, poor distribution and wrong option-taking contributed to a paltry return for championship football. It is hard to win any game scoring just 10 points. Meath were not at the races with an effective enough attack. The also kicked nine wides, half of Kildare's total, but apart from Geraghty's 'goal' and an early effort from Joe Sheridan they never looked like creating a clear opening to trouble Shane Connolly. Graham Reilly's attacking flair was absent, Jamie Queeney was under-utilised at half-back, Bray looked off the pace apart from one magnificent score and after the initial threat of aerial bombardment wore off Paddy O'Rourke and Shane O'Rourke were ineffective. Meath were chasing white shirts all over the field. Brian Meade couldn't live with Johnny Doyle and with Callaghan, Bolton, James Kavanagh and Alan Smith becoming more threatening as the game wore on Meath looked beaten long before Kildare tagged on the last three points to secure the easy win. If Geraghty's goal had been allowed it might have provided Meath with a boost and deflated Kildare. That 'goal' would have closed the gap to 1-9 to 0-13 and set up a tense finale, but it was ruled out and with it went Meath's chances. The deployment of Doyle around midfield caused Meath problems throughout and the defending champions defence looked asleep for the first attack as O'Brien afforded Smith acres of room to give Kildare an early lead. To their credit, Meath settled and after wasting a golden goal chance Sheridan brought Meath level in the fifth minute and they didn't trail again until the 43rd minute. Paddy O'Rourke proved his worth as a late replacement for Cian Ward with a simple point, but Doyle opened his account after evading the attentions of Meade. Another good contribution from Paddy O'Rourke set up his cousin Shane to edge Meath into a 0-3 to 0-2 lead and the good standard of football continued when Shane O'Rourke doubled Meath's advantage after just 10 minutes. Kildare responded with Bolton and Kavanagh on target to restore parity, but Meath ended the opening quarter in front when Paddy O'Rourke converted a '45' after Seamus Kenny's flick was deflected out by Connolly. Slow reactions in the Meath defence allowed Eoghan O'Flaherty level for the fourth time, but Kildare profligacy in front of the post continued with O'Flaherty missing a 20-metre free. That let-off prompted some urgency from Meath in the closing minutes of the half. Bray's brilliant score gave them the lead again and a simple free from Shane O'Rourke gave them their 0-7 to 0-5 interval cushion. That lead should have been more, but both Bray and O'Sullivan kicked woefully wide. The signs were ominous just nine seconds after the restart when Doyle won the throw-in and raced clear to point for Kildare. Four minutes later Murphy was harshly deemed to have fouled the ball after a great catch and Doyle tapped over the resultant free to restore parity yet again. Kildare took the lead for only the second time when Callaghan opened his account, but the Lilywhites never looked back. A stray pass from Murphy led to an easy point from Callaghan and by the end of the third-quarter further points from Callaghan and the brilliant Doyle had Kildare's lead out to 0-11 to 0-7. Farrell's free and a superb Sheridan point closed the gap to two points and kept Meath in touch, but then it all went wrong. After consulting with his linesman, referee Syl Doyle sent-off Farrell and Meath's hopes were effectively dashed. Another brilliant score from Callaghan and an O'Flaherty '45', after Murphy had spectacularly denied Kavanagh a goal, restored Kildare's four-point cushion. The introduction of Geraghty roused the Meath supporters again and he looked to have made an immediate impact when he fisted Sheridan's centre to the net. However, the referee consulted his umpires and disallowed the goal. A booming 60-metre free from Paddy O'Rourke gave Meath false hope that a goal might give them a chance, but Kildare finished on the front foot with Kavanagh, O'Flaherty (free) and substitute Robert Kelly on the mark. The speculation prior to Sunday's game was that a bad defeat might signal the end for McEnaney, but that is unlikely to be the case. The white heat of championship battle proved that the heart was willing, but the head needs a bit of work. If the management can construct a plan B, then the summer mightn't be so short, but if lessons aren't learned from this defeat then Meath will have taken a giant step backwards. SCORERS Kildare - J Doyle 0-4, one free; E Callaghan 0-4; E O'Flaherty 0-3, one free, one '45'; J Kavanagh 0-2; A Smith 0-1; E Bolton 0-1; R Kelly 0-1. Meath - P O'Rourke 0-3, one free, one '45'; S O'Rourke 0-3, one free; J Sheridan 0-1; S Bray 0-1; B Farrell 0-1, free. THE TEAMS Kildare - S Connolly; A MacLochlainn, M Foley, H McGrillen; G White, B Flanagan, E Bolton; T O'Connor, H Lynch; M O'Flaherty, E O'Flaherty, E Callaghan; A Smith, J Doyle, J Kavanagh. Subs - R Sweeney for Flanagan 25 mins, R Kelly for O'Connor 54m, P O'Neill for Sweeney 57m, M Scanlon for MacLochlainn 66m, T O'Neill for White 70m. Meath - B Murphy; G O'Brien, K Reilly, S McAnarney; J Queeney, B Menton, C Lenehan; N Crawford, B Meade; S Kenny, J Sheridan, G Reilly; S Bray, P O'Rourke, S O'Rourke. Subs - M O'Sullivan for Lenehan 23 mins, M Ward for Crawford 41m, B Farrell for Bray 41m, P Gilsenan for G Reilly 50m, G Geraghty for McAnarney 59m. REFEREE Syl Doyle (Wexford).