Late surge boosts Meath to victory

There's no point in sugar coating it, Meath escaped from Pairc Tailteann today with a 0-12 to 0-9 victory over Kildare that looked unlikely at the three-quarters stage.

There were times, especially in the second period, when both sides seemed more intent on losing than taking a stranglehold of the contest.

Meath conceded turnover after turnover and gifted possession to a Kildare side that struggled to make anything of the chances they were presented with.

There were times when Meath looked like storming up the field on the counter-attack only for their break to be halted by careless passing or a soft tackle.

However, when the game went down to the stretch it was Meath who showed the greater composure, just as they did a week ago against Louth.

From a 0-8 to 0-9 deficit at the three-quarters stage Meath didn't concede again and clipped over the last four scores with Cathal Hickey, Ruairi Kinsella, Mathew Costello (free) and Aaron Lynch adding the gloss to what was a messy performance.

Winless Kildare looked every inch of a side lacking in confidence and when Eoghan Frayne punched the air in celebration after clipping over the opening score inside 15 seconds there was a sense Meath would add considerably to their woes.

Even though they were playing against the wind Meath were on the front foot in the opening 20 minutes and despite being pegged back by Kevin Feely's 40-metre wind-assisted free they created the first goal chance in the third minute.

Quick, clever play by Frayne released Shane Walsh through on goals, but his effort was well diverted out for a '45' by Mark Donnellan. Donnellan's opposite number Sean Brennan made no mistake from the resultant '45' to restore Meath's lead.

There were early signs of Meath's sloppiness when they wasted possession and Kildare countered quickly with Ben McCormack clipping over the equaliser.

A free from Costello, after Hickey was fouled, restored Meath's advantage and when Ronan Jones drove over from 35 metres out it looked as if Meath would kick on.

Brennan stretched that lead to 0-5 to 0-2 with a 45 metre free which Donnellan almost stopped from going over, but then Meath hit a brick wall and started to commit unforced errors.

McCormack closed the gap before Costello converted a free 15 minutes before the break - that proved to be the hosts last score of the half.

Donnellan landed a 48 metre free and in the 26th minute Brennan made a superb stop to deny Alex Beirne.

Darragh Campion was sent to the sideline for a black card offence and two minutes before the break McCormack continued to torment the Meath rearguard with a fine point that closed the gap to 0-5 to 0-6 at the break.

Kildare managed to restore parity just short of three minutes after the restart, but with Camp[ion back on the field Meath edged ahead again with Frayne winning and converting a mark before Campion lofted over from 45 metres.

Again just as Meath seemed to have the game in the bag they started to make silly mistakes.

They failed to score for the next 18 minutes as attack after attack broke down.

Beirne kick-started Kildare's mini-revival and while they were also wasteful they did manage to get their noses in front with Niall Kelly and Eoin Doyle pointing to make it 0-9 to 0-8.

However that was as good as it got for Kildare and it was their turn to endure a barren spell. They failed to score again as Meath found another gear in the closing stages and sealed the win that boosts their Div 2 survival hopes and leaves them still in with a shout of promotion.

SCORERS

Meath - Eoghan Frayne 0-3 one free, one mark; Mathew Costello 0-2 frees; Sean Brennan 0-2 one free, one '45'; Ronan Jones 0-1; Darragh Campion 0-1; Cathal Hickey 0-1; Ruairi Kinsella 0-1; Aaron Lynch 0-1.

Kildare - Ben McCormack 0-3; Kevin Feely 0-2 frees; Mark Donnellan 0-1 free; Alex Beirne 0-1; Niall Kelly 0-1; Eoin Doyle 0-1.

TEAM

Meath - Sean Brennan; Donal Keogan, Adam O'Neill, Brian O'Halloran; Ciaran Caulfield, Darragh Campion, Sean Coffey; Ronan Jones, Cian McBride; Daithi McGowan, Eoghan Frayne, Jack O'Connor; Shane Walsh, Mathew Costello, Cathal Hickey. Subs - Danny Dixon for McBride half-time, Ruairi Kinsella for O'Connor 53m, Aaron Lynch for McGowan 59m, Michael Murphy for Coffey 68m, Adam McDonnell for Frayne 73m.

Kildare - Mark Donnellan; Ryan Houlihan, Mick O'Grady, Eoin Doyle; Jack Sargent, Kevin Flynn, Paddy McDermott; Aaron Masterson, Ryan Burke; Barry Kelly, Ben McCormack, Alex Beirne; Darragh Kirwan, Kevin Feely, Daniel Flynn. Subs - Niall Kelly for Kirwan 14m, Shane Farrell for McCormack half-time, Paddy Woodgate for Kelly 44m, Shea Ryan for Doyle 63m.

Referee - Seamus Mulhare (Laois).