Meath lose out in thriller

Defending champions Meath will not get a chance to retain their Leinster MFC title when they were sensationally dumped out of the race at the penultimate hurdle by Kildare in a thrilling contest at Pairc Tailteann on Saturday afternoon. Defeat was harsh for the Royal youngsters as they put in a tremendous effort, but the reality of the situation is that the strength-in-depth was not there and when management had to make changes they had very few options. There were times in the game when Meath looked invincible. For the opening nine minutes of the contest they blitzed Kildare with a devastating display, but subsequently they failed to score for 11 minutes and allowed Kildare settle. In the opening six minutes of the second period Meath built on their 0-5 to 0-2 interval advantage to lead by 0-8 to 0-3. They looked sure things to go through to their second successive provincial decider, but then they endured another 20-minute barren spell. In those 20 minutes Kildare took over. Darrock Mulhall ran rings around David Coyle and contributed 1-3 as Kildare turned their five-point deficit into a 1-7 to 0-8 lead at the three-quarters stage. Even then Meath could have won the game, but Kildare were getting on top in most sectors and try as they might the Meath management couldn"t stem the flow as they lacked the personnel to shackle the Kildare key men. Just as Kildare were getting on top Meath"s best players started to wilt. Damien Carroll went out of the game in midfield, Ciaran Lenehan made a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes and danger men Sean Tobin, Conor Devereux and Harrison Silke couldn"t get on the ball. With those main players losing form at exactly the wrong time manager Pat Coyle turned to others to up their game, but few responded. Only Bryan Menton maintained a high standard of football for the hour. Coyle must have wished he could have cloned 14 other Mentons because the Donaghmore/ Ashbourne man was superb. Kildare"s narrow margin of victory is down mainly to the excellent defending of Menton. It will be no consolation to the huge centre-back because his side still lost, but he was head and shoulders above everyone else on the pitch. When Meath started to lose the battle at midfield, they could have shifted Menton to there, but his loss would have told in defence so it was a no-win situation with the talanted Donaghmore/Ashbourne player. Even despite not playing to their strengths for the whole game, Meath did have their chances to win it. They were let off when Kildare missed a first-half penalty and Devereux had a great last-ditch effort that he pulled wide after doing well to win possession. It just wasn"t Meath"s day. They failed to capitalise on their periods of dominance and drifted out of the game. Kildare were deserving winners, so Meath can have no complaints, but they can have plenty of regrets because the game was there for the winning. Meath looked sensational in the early stages. Silke caused John Byrne problems inside the first minute and forced the Kildare centre-back to foul him. Tobin converted the free and Meath were on their way. An excellent move involving Devereux, Silke and Carroll ended with Ailbhe Mahon"s shot being blocked down, but Padraig McKeever was alert and won the break to set up Silke to double the hosts advantage. It got even better two minutes later when Tobin converted a '45" and when McKeever stroked over a delightful point from a difficult angle to make it 0-4 to 0-0 Meath looked as if they were in cruise control. However, then their well ran dry for 11 minutes. Paul Cribben settled Kildare with a massive point from distance before, eventually, a great clearance from Carroll found Tobin in behind the defence and he turned well and pointed. Kildare settle more into the game as the half wore on and while Meath did defend well it was a silly late tackle by Liam Tolan on Kevin Corrigan that gave Mulhall a simple free to leave his side just 0-2 to 0-5 adrift. That deficit could have been wiped out altogether when Cian Reynolds was fouled by Coyle as he was about to shoot for a goal, but Mulhall drove his penalty off the left-hand post and out to safety. Meath broke down the field and should have pointed through Devereux, but he fired wide. A minute later Carroll had a great chance to stretch Meath"s lead, but he clipped an easy free wide to leave Meath"s half-time advantage at just three points. Inside a minute of the re-start Tobin pointed another free and after great play by Menton and McKeever Mark O"Sullivan tagged on a seventh point. Reynolds responded for Kildare, but when O"Sullivan made it 0-8 to 0-3 Meath were in pole position with 24 minutes remaining. However, they failed to score for the next 20 minutes and in that time Mulhall ran riot. He forced Conor McHugh to tip his blistering drive over the bar before Fogarty pointed a free. Then in the space of two minutes the game was won for Kildare. Mulhall pointed brilliantly after a surging run and after Carroll gave the ball away in attack a huge clearance by Byrne was mis-read by Lenehan and that left Mulhall in the clear to fire a superb goal and give Kildare the lead for the first time, 1-6 to 0-8. From the kickout Kildare won possession again and it was Mulhall who further punished them. Kildare were rampant at this stage. Philip Cocoman struck the upright, while Carroll missed another free. Mahon finally ended Meath"s barren spell, but soon after Tomas Moolick was fouled and Kildare restored their two-point lead with another Mulhall free. Emmet Boyle set up a tense finale with a fine point, but Meath couldn"t find a winning or equalising score as Silke"s immaculate pass was gathered by Devereux and he shot wide to signify the end of the Royal"s reign as Leinster champions. SCORERS Kildare - D Mulhall 1-5, two frees; P Fogarty 0-1, free; P Cribben 0-1; C Reynolds 0-1. Meath - S Tobin 0-4, two frees, one '45"; M O"Sullivan 0-2; H Silke 0-1; P McKeever 0-1; A Mahon 0-1; E Boyle 0-1. THE TEAMS Kildare - Mark Donnellan; Kevin Corrigan, Sean Dowling, Pauric Cullen; Colin O"Shea, John Byrne, Eoin Doyle; Tomas Moolick, John Comerford; Philip Cocoman, Paul Cribben, Sean Hurley; Darrock Mulhall, Padraig Fogarty, Cian Reynolds. Subs - John McAndrew for Hurley 37 mins, Bernard Davey for Cocoman 52m, C Bolton for Fogarty 60m. Meath - Conor McHugh; Gavin Kennedy, Ciaran Lenehan, David Coyle; Mark McCormack, Bryan Menton, Kevin Mallon; Damien Carroll, Ailbhe Mahon; Conor Devereux, Padraig McKeever, Emmet Boyle; Sean Tobin, Harrison Silke, Liam Tolan. Subs - Mark O"Sullivan for Tolan 24 mins, Donal Keoghan for Coyle 47m, David Larkin for Mckeever 51m, Tom Rahill for Mallon 53m. REFEREE Brian O"Shea (Dublin).