Brilliant opening half sees Meath Hill into IFC semi

Meath Hill 3-16

Kilbride 2-9

Meath Hill marched on to the semi-final of the IFC with a comprehensive victory over Kilbride on Saturday afternoon in Walterstown. Meath Hill came flying out of the traps and very quickly held an eight-point lead inside the opening quarter. Gary Breslin was in incredible form and he hit 1-7 in the first-half as Meath Hill racked up an incredible opening-half tally of 2-12 while keeping Kilbride restricted to five points, all of which came from frees. The second half was a much tighter affair but the damage inflicted in the first half means that Meath Hill progressed and they take one step closer in their hunt for the Mattie McDonnell Cup.

Cormac Sheehy got the scoring underway before Ryan Ownes expertly dispatched the ball to the back of the Kilbride net to give Meath Hill an early four-point advantage. Gary Breslin rattled off three points, one after the other before Jack McMahon sold one of the Kilbride defenders a beautiful dummy followed in style by an outside-of-the-boot strike. That score gave Meath Hill a 1-5 to no score advantage after only 10 minutes of play.

Josh Harford opened Kilbride’s account with his first free before trading scores with Sheehy to reduce the gap back to seven. Meath Hill’s next three scores came courtesy of Breslin who was in scintillating form. At the far end, Kilbride had a chance to get themselves back in contention however netminder Dominic Yorke produced a phenomenal save to deny James Gavin.

Very soon after, a cracking kick pass from Sheehy found Breslin inside and the star of the show to that point made no mistake with the finish to secure Meath Hill’s second goal which left 12 points between the sides.

Harford eased the Kilbride pain slightly with two well-taken frees but these were cancelled out by scores courtesy of Pierce McGrath and Shane McCabe. Breslin wrapped up a fine first-half performance with another score to bring his tally for the half to 1-7. At the break, Meath Hill held a significant advantage of 2-12 to 0-5.

After a poor first-half showing, Kilbride came out in the second half looking to restore a bit of pride and they got off to a flying start. A point from Mark Dempsey and a goal from Andrew McWeeney gave the travelling Kilbride faithful something to cheer about early in the second-half.

There was a significant increase in turnovers over the preceding quarter of an hour or so as legs began to tire in what had been a very fast-paced encounter. A brace a points apiece was all that the sides could manage and with 10 minutes left in the contest, Meath Hill still led by nine points.

A Cian Harford score was quickly responded to by scores from Meath Hill’s dynamic midfield duo of Breslin and Ownes. Even though they were all but out of the contest, Kilbride produced a stunning move for the second goal where substitutes Zach McGovern and Fiachra Gorman linked up before setting up James Gavin who produced a wonderful finish in what would transpire to be Kilbride’s last score.

With a minute left on the clock, Meath Hill found themselves once again in an advanced position and a dangerous Sean Ownes ball found the hands of Jamie Slevin before Slevin was fouled in the large rectangle. A last-minute penalty was awarded. Netminder Yorke, whose name is very similar to a former Manchester United striker, solidified his pick as penalty taker with a fantastically hit shot to the top left corner. A strike that the 1999 treble-winning Trinidadian would be proud of.

Yorke’s Premier league-worthy penalty wrapped up proceedings in Walterstown as Meath Hill advanced to the semi-final as Kilbride’s maiden year in the IFC came to a close.

Meath Hill – Dominic Yorke (1-0, one pen); Damien Turley, Tom Carolan, Ben Gogarty; Conor Marry, Jamie Slevin, Peter Griffen; Gary Breslin (1-9, two frees), Ryan Owens (1-1); Cormac Sheehy (0-2), Pierce McGrath (0-1), Jack McMahon (0-1); James Mooney, Shane McCabe (0-1), Jack Slavin. Subs – Sean Ownes for McGrath 37m, Andrew Monaghan for Gogarty 42m, Kyle Martin for McCabe 51m, Matthew Carolan for Breslin 58m.

Kilbride – Craig Manning; Mark Dempsey (0-1), Ronan O’Leary, Finn White; Anthony Barker, Conor O’Driscoll, Daniel Boyd; Cathal McKeon, Caolan Howard; Cian Harford (0-1), James Gavin (1-0), Timmy Farrell; Josh Harford (0-6, six frees), Andrew McWeeney (1-0), Luke Faherty. Subs – Zach McGovern (0-1) for O’Driscoll HT, Fiachra Gorman for Faherty 46m.

Referee – Patrick Coyle