Meath lose to Kildare in thriller

Meath surrendered their Leinster JFC crown to Kildare today, but they didn't go down without as fight as they lost out by 2-15 to 2-17 in a pulsating encounter at Croke Park.

Seven wides in the opening half coupled with a failure to score in the third quarter left Meath facing an uphill battle to retain their crown, but they never gave up the ghost and battled back superbly to set up a thrilling finale.

Meath started impressively and boosted by Daire Rowe's superb third minute goal they quickly opened up a 1-2 to 0-0 lead.

Kildare settled and got back into the game, but by the end of the first quarter Meath were still 1-6 to 0-5 to the good.

The free-flowing, opening scoring contest continued to entertain as Meath moved 1-8 to 0-6 clear, but then Kildare struck their first goal from Eoghan Lawless to close the gap to 1-6 to 1-8 five minutes before the break.

Meath finished the half impressively with points from goalkeeper Conor McHugh ('45'), the excellent Danny Quinn and the lively Rowe boosting them to a 1-11 to 1-7 interval lead.

However it took Meath 19 second-half minutes before they added to that tally and by that stage they were 1-11 to 2-13 adrift with Mark Nolan hitting Kildare's second goal.

Kevin Ross eventually ended Meath's barren spell with a free and he quickly added a goal as Meath closed to 2-12 to 2-13, but that was as close as they got.

The sides traded points in the closing stages and when Conor Dempsey was sent-off in injury-time it left Meath numerically disadvantage both on the field and on the scoreboard as Kildare held on.

 

Make sure to pick up Tuesday's Meath Chronicle for all the action and reaction from Sunday's thrilling Leinster JFC final at Croke Park.