Kingdom run riot against Royals

Kerry...2-18

Meath...0-9

DAVID RISPIN

Eight days on from a humiliating derby defeat at the hands of Louth, Meath suffered a heavy defeat for the second straight game with Kerry coasting to victory in a sun soaked Pairc Tailteann on Sunday afternoon in the All-Ireland SFC.

Played in front of 8,224 spectators, the Kingdom rarely had to overextend themselves against a wasteful Meath outfit who finished with eleven wides, eight of which came in the opening period with the Royals backed by a stiff breeze.

Despite showing considerably more fight than the week previous, Meath were no-match for Jack O’Connor’s men when they shifted through the gears seemingly at will. David Clifford adding a brace of second half goals to add some gloss to the scoreboard but in truth the dye was long since cast.

Colm O’Rourke, as expected shuffled the deck with the team showing four alterations with first Championship starts for Brian O’Halloran and Michael Murphy whilst Sean Ryan made his maiden Championship appearance. Conor Gray also returned to the fray replacing captain Ronan Jones with Harry O’Higgins, Cian McBride and James Conlon also making way.

Kerry dominated the opening exchanges, but a packed Meath defence prevented the visitors until Diarmuid O’Connor’s fifth minute point. Wind-assisted Meath equalised a minute later with Eoghan Frayne curling over following some nice inter-play from Cathal Hickey and Mathew Costello.

Three scores in succession from Joe O’Connor, Tom O’Sullivan, and Brian Ó Beaglaíoch establishing a three-point gap between the sides after 15 minutes. Meath stopped the rot with a first score in 12 minutes thanks to an Eoghan Frayne pointed free following an enterprising piece of play from Darragh Campion who was eventually fouled.

Meath had further opportunities to reduce the arrears, but some wayward shooting proved costly. Cillian O’Sullivan missed a guilt-edged advanced mark with Tony Brosnan immediately punishing their hosts down the opposite end.

Frayne did kick a monster off his left boot from the 45-metre line to reduce the margin to two after 22 minutes, but this would be as close as Meath would get with the Royals failing to register another white flag for the remainder of the half.

Kerry stretched their lead quite considerably in the remaining 10 minutes of the half with Sean O’Shea, Brosnan, O’Sullivan, and a further brace from the excellent Ó Beaglaíoch easing the Munster champions into a seven-point half time advantage, 0-3 to 0-10.

Jordy Morris and Ronan Jones were introduced to the action at the break and Meath made a prosperous start to the second half with Ballinabrackey’s Sean Coffey slicing over with the outside of the left boot. Mat Costello made it back-to-back Meath scores with a sweet score from an acute angle to make it a five-point game with 42 minutes on the clock.

Any distinct hopes of an unlikely Meath comeback were dashed with Kerry netting their first goal of the day. David Clifford had been kept extremely quiet until the 48th minute but when he received a pass from O’Sullivan, the Kerry talisman blasted to the roof of the net. Further scores from Paul Geaney and a ‘45’ from O’Shea made it a ten-point game with still 20 minutes to go.

Indeed, had it not been for a terrific last-ditch block from Adam O’Neill, Clifford would have had a quickfire double.

Substitute Jack O’Connor broke an 11-minute gap without a score for the men in green and gold with a Frayne free and a well-taken Ciarán Caulfield score bringing Meath’s tally to eight with less than 10 minutes left of the contest. Scores from Dara Moynihan and O’Shea (mark) stretched the gap to nine.

Costello tapped over what proved to be Meath’s final score of the game from a free five minutes from time but Kerry were far from finished, taking full advantage of a tiring Meath outfit. Two points from Clifford sandwiched either side of a Killian Spillane mark had Kerry eleven to the good approaching the 70th minute mark.

Not content with that, the Kingdom surged through the gears once more with Paudie Clifford, Dylan Geaney and Spillane netting together a devastating move with the ball eventually reaching the deadly David Clifford who found the net for the second time. Paudie Clifford completed the rout in the final minute of stoppage time ending Meath’s misery.

Despite the heavy defeats against Louth and Kerry, a Meath win over Monaghan in a fortnight will be enough to progress to the preliminary quarter-finals of the All-Ireland SFC thanks largely to Louth’s draw with Monaghan on Sunday evening.

SCORERS

Meath – Eoghan Frayne 0-4 two frees, Mathew Costello 0-2 one free, Ciarán Caulfield 0-1, Sean Coffey 0-1, Jack O’Connor 0-1.

Kerry – David Clifford 2-2 one free, Brian Ó Beaglaíoch 0-3, Seán O’Shea 0-3 one mark one ‘45’, Tom O’Sullivan 0-2, Tony Brosnan 0-2, Paudie Clifford 0-1, Diarmuid O’Connor 0-1, Joe O’Connor 0-1, Paul Geaney 0-1, Killian Spillane 0-1 mark, Dara Moynihan 0-1.

TEAMS

Meath – Billy Hogan; Donal Keogan, Adam O’Neill, Ronan Ryan; Ciarán Caulfield, Brian O’Halloran, Sean Coffey; Conor Gray, Cathal Hickey; Michael Murphy, Darragh Campion, Seán Ryan, Cillian O’Sullivan, Mathew Costello, Eoghan Frayne. Subs – Ronan Jones for Gray Half Time, Jordan Morris for Murphy Half Time, Jack O’Connor for O’Sullivan 47m, Cian McBride for Coffey 53m, Ross Ryan for Campion 57m.

Kerry – Shane Ryan; Dylan Casey, Jason Foley, Tom O’Sullivan; Brian Ó Beaglaíoch, Mike Breen, Gavin White; Diarmuid O’Connor, Jack O’Connor; Tony Brosnan, Paudie Clifford, Cillian Burke; David Clifford, Seán O’Shea, Paul Geaney. Subs