Kildare jinx strikes in Parnell Park decider

The Lilywhite jinx strikes again. Meath hurlers have endured their fair share of disappointments against Kildare in recent years and they shipped another bitter setback against the same opposition in Sunday's NHL Div 2B final. The Royal County side arrived at Parnell Park on the back of some decent results including victories away to London and Armagh. However, their hopes of claiming a piece of silverware unravelled in the second-half when the concession of three goals proved too damaging. In a turbulent week for Meath GAA the capture of a national title would have provided some cheer and at half-time when the men in green and gold led 1-5 to 0-7 that looked a distinct possibility. Events were to subsequently conspire against them with a couple of crucial decisions by match officials ensuring that the team in white claimed the spoils before a crowd of around 1,200 on a dry day. Among the most controversial calls was the decision on 52 minutes to rule out a Meath 'goal.' Ciaran Fitzsimons sent a long ball in from the left. The sliotar passed over the heads of backs and forwards and ended up in the net, but the 'goal' was disallowed. It seemed one of the Meath forwards had tried to put the Kildare goalkeeper Paul Dermody off guard by rushing at him as the ball passed overhead. While there were some eyebrows raised at the decision there were other, more relevant, reasons why Meath left this game behind them. For a start Cillian Farrell's side shot 16 wides compared to nine from Kildare and that statistic was always likely to prove crucial. There were a couple of very good chances missed in the second-half when the Royal County enjoyed a purple patch and had the opportunity to put some daylight between the teams. When those chances weren't taken Kildare appeared to sense that they could seize the initiative which they did with the help of two goals inside the last five minutes. Both of those could be considered of the 'soft' variety. The first arrived on the 66th minute mark when Kildare's Richie Hoban landed a long ball into the Meath square. The sliotar deflected off the stick of Paul Fagan and while it was scrambled clear the umpire indicated a goal. Fagan protested strongly to no avail. Shortly afterwards Meath's left-back Stephen Morris attempted to clear the ball from close to his own goals. His clearance was blocked, the ball broke to Martin Fitzgerald and the Kildare man made no mistake from close range. And while those goals were big blows to Meath there were other reasons why they ended up outside the winners' enclosure. Kildare are a big physical side and that became a significant factor as the afternoon wore on with Meath players often left struggling to contain marauding opponents. The defeat was all the more disappointing for Meath as they had put in a very solid performance for an hour or so and were well in contention until they leaked those two late goals. They especially enjoyed a decent first-half when they put together some decent passages of play although they often were unable to translate good approach work into scores. The balance of the play shifted one way then the other in that first-half with the sides level on five occasions with Paul Divilly's accuracy from frees a big factor in keeping Kildare in the hunt. Only one of Meath's first-half points came from play, a fine effort from Sean Heavey. The other four points arrived from frees struck with authority by Noel Kirby. The Meath goal arrived in the 30th minute when Kirby won the ball in midfield, off-loaded a pass to Derek Doran who skipped past his marker. He got the ball to Stephen Donoghue whose shot was blocked. It broke to Colm O Mealoid who fired to the net for a score that capped an enterprising display. Doran didn't get on the scoresheet, but arguably he was Meath's best player with a series of strong, jinking runs that regularly caused consternation in the Kildare defence. It wasn't unusual to see three, or as occurred on one occasion, four Kildare players surround him and even then they had difficulty in trying to contain him. The chief Meath points-scorer in the second-half was Stephen Clynch and yet again all four of his scores came from frees, one of them slotted between the posts from his own '65.' Only one point came from play after the break a fine effort from out on the left by Peter Durnin just before he was substituted. Meath needed a better return from open play to make the impact they sought on the scoreboard. Durnin was unlucky not to get a goal late in the opening half when he stumbled just as he was played in by James Kelly. It is also significant that only two Meath players, Heavey and Durnin, scored points from play all afternoon while four Kildare performers managed the same feat. Kildare's first goal on 43 minutes from Tony Murphy was the first indication that the Meath defence was vulnerable. And while Farrell's men fought back well to draw level the two late goals from the Lilywhites put paid to any hopes of a Royal success. SCORERS Kildare - P Divily 0-6 frees; M Fitzgerald 1-2; R Hoban 1-1 one free; Tony Murphy 1-0; D Butler 0-2 one sideline; J Enright 0-1; M Maloney 0-1. Meath - N Kirby 0-6 frees; S Clynch 0-4 frees; C " Mealoid 1-0; S Heavey 0-1; P Durnin 0-1. TEAMS Kildare - P Dermody; P Reidy, F " Muineacháin, J Doran; K Divilly, R Hoban, N " Muineacháin; D Butler, M Moloney; C Kenny, P Divilly, D Harney; M Fitzgerald, T Murphy, L Quinn. Subs - J O'Malley for K Divilly 45mins, J Enright for Hanney 49m. Meath - Shane McGann; Cormac Reilly, Damien Healy, Stephen Morris; James Toher, Paul Fagan, Enda Keogh; Stephen Clynch, Stephen Donoghue; Sean Heavey, Noel Kirby, Eoin Marsh; James Kelly, Derek Doran, Peter Durnin. Subs - Colm " Mealoid for Marsh 20 mins, Ciaran Fitzsimons for Donoghue 41m, N Horan for Durnin 47m, M Cole for Kelly 64m, K Keoghan for Heavey 69m. Referee - Eamonn Hasson (Derry).