Meath edged out in extra-time

After the sides finished at 0-12 each Meath's Jason Scully hit his extra-time penalty off the crossbar as Kildare advanced to the Leinster MFC decider tonight in Navan with a 0-19 to 0-15 victory.

Extra-time points from Jimmy Hyland (three), Ciaran Kelly (two), Jack Robinson and Darragh Merriman earned victory for the Lilywhites while Jason Scully (two frees) and Ethan Devine from play was all that Meath could muster.

This was a fast-paced opening half in which both sides played some excellent football, but Meath claimed all their scores from play while Kildare relied mainly on placed balls as the sides turned over at 0-6 apiece at the interval.

James Conlon (three), Ethan Devine (two) and Daragh Campion sent over the Meath points while Ciaran Kelly converted two frees, one '45' and one from play for Kildare with a brace (one free) from Jimmy Hyland.

Despite facing the second-half wind Meath resumed smartly and forged ahead from an Eoin Smith point, but Kildare countered with Hyland (free), Tony Archbald and Kelly splitting the posts to lead by 0-9 to 0-7 after 41 minutes.

Meath edged ahead by the end of the third-quarter as they reeled off points from Devine (two) and Jason Scully (two), but once more Kildare countered with Hyland on the mark from a free.

Scully and Jack Robinson traded scores to leave it a one-point game with five minutes remaining. Kelly drew the sides level at the end of 60 minutes.

Kildare – L Mullins; J O'Toole, M Dempsey, D Shaw; T Archibald (0-1), S Doran, J Gibbons; D Marnell, A Masterson; J Robinson (0-2), D Kelly, K Foley; C Kelly (0-8 four frees, one '45'), B McLoughlin, J Hyland (0-7 four frees). Subs – C Costigan for Kelly 45 mins, J Burke for Foley 54m, P Woodgate (0-1) for McLoughlin and D O'Sullivan for Archbald both 57m. Extra-time – D Merriman for Gibbons, N Murphy for Marnell. 

Meath – A McDermott: C Harnan, R Clarke, B O'Reilly; J Cassidy, N Murphy, C O'Reilly; E O'Kelly-Lynch, S Reilly; D Campion (0-1), J Scully (0-5 four frees), E Smith (0-1); J Conlon (0-3), F O'Reilly, E Devine (0-5). Subs – N Durkan for O'Kelly-Lynch 40 mins, B McKeon for F O'Reilly 45m, A Murphy for Cassidy 51m, C Aherne for Devine 57m. Extra-time – Devine for Smith, E Mooney for Durkan, C Cullen for Clarke, Smith for Conlon.

 

Referee – Patrick Maguire (Longford).