Meath fall short in Newbridge thriller

Joe Cowley's side came very close to recording a fantastic away victory

Kildare 3-2-10 (23)

Meath 1-2-11 (18)

Meath minors fell to defeat against Kildare on Thursday in Group 2 of the Leinster MFC at Newbridge.

Meath led by three points heading into the final five minutes but a late surge from the home side resulted in the Royals conceding 2-2 in the closing stages.

Joe Cowley's side will be disappointed to come away from the game empty-handed as at various stages it looked like they had the game almost put to bed.

After a dominant second quarter, Meath led by four at the half-time interval. A goal courtesy of Stephen Cahill at the three-quarter way marker put Meath ahead by 1-13 to 1-8.

Moments later, Meath were denied a second-goal when Nathan Reilly's effort was cleared off the line from the Kildare's Senan Gallagher. Whether the ball was cleared before it crossed the line or not was questionable.

Kildare regained momentum and 44th minute and the 54th minute, outscored Meath by 0-4 to 0-2. However, Meath still held a three-point advantage.

Kildare went on the hunt and in the remaining minutes of normal-time scored 1-2 which put them two points ahead. A two-pointer attempt from Charlie Gallagher went just wide of the posts. Kildare went on the counterattack and killed off Meath's chances with a goal courtesy of Niall McAndrew.

Even though the young Royals came up just short, there were some great individual performances on the night. Charlie Gallagher and Declan Byrne were a formidable duo in the middle and Gallagher finished with a fine tally of 0-6 which included two two-pointers.

Glen Callaghan had a fine game at corner back as did half forwards Will Byrne and Cillian Murphy. Meath's full forward line consisting of Adam McEvoy, Stephen Cahill and Nathan Reilly asked plenty of questions of the Kildare full-back line and the trio combined for 1-7.

Meath had some issues in front of the posts in the early stages and six efforts went unrewarded in the opening 10 minutes. The Lilywhites were more clinical in those opening exchanges and opened up a 0-4 to 0-1 lead. Meath's only score during this period came from a Reilly free.

Kildare had a fantastic chance for a goal early on but Rory Thompson's bullet shot rattled off the cross-bar. After that Meath settled into the contest and two points from Cahill and Gallagher brought them back to within one point after 13 minutes.

Thompson and McEvoy traded frees before Gallagher kicked a fantastic two-pointer to put Meath ahead for the first time after 18 minutes. McEvoy knocked over another free and after 20 minutes Meath led 0-7 to 0-5. Kildare pulled one back through Hugh Martin but then they began to falter in front of the posts.

Gallagher restored Meath's two-point advantage before a brilliant ball in from Byrne, found the hands of Reilly and he knocked over to put three between the sides. A nice move that included good link-up play between the midfield duo of Byrne and Gallagher, was polished off by McBrearty which left Meath with a 0-10 to 0-6 lead at half-time.

Kildare got the second-half off to a flying start as Thompson found the back of the Meath net after only 30 seconds. Meath responded well though with a well-struck two-point free from Gallagher and a point courtesy of McEvoy. Pauraic Carthy slotted a two-point free for Kildare which reduced the gap back to two.

In the 43rd minute, Meath broke the Kildare line of defence and Nathan Reilly hand-passed the ball in the direction of the Lilywhites net. Kildare's wing-back Sean Gleeson pushed the ball back into the path of Cahill who slotted the ball past Jamie Wall for a goal. Meath now led 1-13 to 1-8.

Less than a minute later, Meath was denied a second-goal when Reilly's attempt appeared to cross over the line of Wall's goals. Senan Gallagher scrambled the ball clear and the two umpires kept their arms by their shoulders.

Kildare then rattled off three points in succession before Byrne secured a point to settle the ship for the Royals. With 10 minutes remaining, Meath led 1-14 to 1-10. Ollie Deller and Reilly traded blows and in the final five minutes, Kilare rattled off 2-2 without reply to win by two. The late Lilywhite's goals were scored by T J Donoghue and Niall McAndrew.

Meath has one more game remaining in the group stage, against Longford and Joe Cowley's side are still in with a great chance of qualifying for the knockout stages.

Kildare - Jamie Wall; Dan Sargent, Niall McAndrew (1-1), Senan Gallagher; Sean Gleeson, Charlie Cullen, TJ Donoghue (1-0); Callum Keaveny, Ollie Deller (0-2); Rian Curran (0-1), Hugh Martin (0-2), Mark Travers; Pauraic Carthy (0-4 two two-point frees), Rory Thompson (1-2 one free), Charlie Doran. Subs - Turlough Donnelly (0-1 one free) for Gleeson, Cillian Long (0-1 one free) for Curran both half-time, Robbie Mulham for Keaveny 53m, Eoghan Lyons for Thompson 59m.

Meath - Kian Campbell; Charlie O'Connor, Conall O'Sullivan, Glen Callaghan; Tadgh Foley, Eoghan McBrearty (0-1), Niall Lawless; Declan Byrne, Charlie Gallagher (0-6 one two-point, one free, one two point-free); Will Byrne (0-1), Cillian Murphy, Jeff Foley; Adam McEvoy (0-3 two frees), Stephen Cahill (1-1), Nathan Reilly (0-3 one free). Subs - Robert Johnson for Tadgh Foley 41m, CJ Lynch for Cahill 49m, Sean Delaney for Martin 52m, Max Condon for Jeff Foley, Sean Smyth for Byrne both 56m.

Referee - James Foley (Carlow)