Unlucky Meath edged out by Kerry
It was another case of so near, yet so far, for Meath in Fitzgerald Stadium today as they produced their best performance of the NFL Div 1 campaign so far before falling to a 2-13 to 1-19 loss to Kerry who finished with 13 men following black cards in injury-time.
A poor start left Meath playing catching and while they never had their noses in front they twice came from eight points to get within a score of a strong Kerry side that had to dig deep to get the better of their determined visitors.
Meath also had their black card issues, picking up two sin-binnings in the opening half, the first of which for Cillian O'Sullivan proved costly as David Clifford bagged his side's only goal just seconds before the Meath man's return.
If Meath needed an early warning of the threat Kerry would pose they got it in the first minute as Clifford and Stephen O'Brien combined to set-up Paul Geaney for the opening score.
Less than two minutes later debutant David Shaw marked his appearance with a fine score and things went from bad to worse for Meath in the fifth minute when O'Sullivan was black carded and sin-binned for a needless challenge on Jack Barry in midfield.
Down to 14 men Meath dropped everyone except Oisin O'Brien behind the ball and looked to have weathered the storm fairly well with two Sean O'Shea frees stretching Kerry's lead to 0-4 to 0-0.
Shaw hit the post in that spell, but seconds before O'Sullivan was due to return Meath suffered a calmity.
Shaw flicked on Micheal Burns' long ball in Clifford's direct and as Robin Clarke and Conor McGill scrambled to get across to the Kerry captain they collided and Clifford finished to the net.
A minute later Burns was on target to make it 1-5 to 0-0, but then Meath woke from their slumber.
O'Sullivan's return provided the spark and it was his point that got Meath up and running. James McEntee benfited from a poor kickout to double Meath's tally and when Donal Keogan fired a brilliant goal in the 20th minute to make it 1-2 to 1-5 Meath were back in the game.
Shaw blasted a goal chance over the bar to settle Kerry, but Meath continued to apply pressure with James Conlon pointing from an angle and Tomas O'Reilly converting a free to close the gap to just two points.
O'Shea and O'Reilly traded frees to maintain that two-point cushion, but then the Royals suffered another setback with Keogan picking up a 10-minute spell in the sin-bin following a black card challenge on Gavin White.
Kerry added three points in the closing six minutes of the half with two more frees from O'Shea and a superb score from Clifford ensuring a 1-10 to 1-5 interval lead for the Kingdom.
Despite facing into a bit of a breeze Meath scored four of the first five points after the break. O'Reilly and Geaney traded scores early on before Oisin O'Brien, O'reilly (free) and James Conlon closed the gap to 1-9 to 1-11 with 21 minutes remaining.
Kerry settled again and as Meath failed to score in the next 13 minutes the hosts kicked six points in that spell with Clifford and O'Shea converting frees while Burns and Dara Moynihan added two each to stretch their lead to 1-17 to 1-9 in the 61st minute.
Instead of capitulating Meath rallied again. A long ball from Bryan Menton was knocked down by Conor McGill into the path of Bryan McMahon and he made no mistake to close the gap to five.
Just 90 seconds later O'Reilly was put through on goals again, but he shot straight at Brian Kelly before latching onto the loose ball to blast over the bar.
Tommy Walsh settled nerves with an excellent score. However, Meath continued to press and they almost got in for a third goal when Keogan was put through by O'Reilly, but Kelly made a superb stop to preserve Kerry's lead.
Menton's obligatory point make it 2-11 to 1-18 and when Burns was black carded just as five minutes of additional time were announced iy gave Meath a boost.
O'Sullivan slotted over a close rnge free, but Kerry just kept their noses in front with Clifford on target. O'Reilly made it a one-score-game with another free a minute from the end, but that third goal never arrived for Meath and it was another case of so near yet for far for the Royals.
SCORERS
Kerry – Sean O'Shea 0-6 frees; David Clifford 1-3 one free; Micheal Burns 0-3; Paul Geaney 0-2; David Shaw 0-2; Dara Moynihan 0-2; Tommy Walsh 0-1.
Meath – Thomas O'Reilly 0-5 four frees; Donal Keogan 1-0; Bryan McMahon 1-0; James Conlon 0-2; Cillian O'Sullivan 0-2 one free; James McEntee 0-1; T Oisin O'Brien 0-1; Bryan Menton 0-1; Cillian O'Sullivan 0-1 free.
TEAMS
Kerry – Brian Kelly; Graham O'Sullivan, Tadhg Morley,Tom O'Sullivan; Paul Murphy, Shane Enright, Gavin White; Liam Kearney, Jack Barry; Micheal Burns, Sean O'Shea, Stephen O'Brien; David Shaw, David Clifford, Paul Geaney. Subs – Dara Moynihan for Kearney 43 mins, Tommy Walsh for Shaw 50m, Tony Brosnan for O'Brien 61m, Diarmuid O'Connor for Geaney 71m.
Meath – Mark Brennan; Robin Clarke, Conor McGill, David Toner; Ronan Ryan, Brian Conlon, Donal Keogan; Bryan Menton, Ethan Devine; James McEntee, Bryan McMahon, Cillian O'Sullivan, Oisin O'Brien, Thomas O'Reilly, James Conlon. Subs – Eamon Wallace for Devine 54 mins, Sean Tobin for J Conlon, Donal Lenihan for O'Brien both 59m, Gavin McCoy for B Conlon 64m, Ross Ryan for Ronan Ryan 66m.
Referee – Derek O'Mahoney (Tipperary).