Simonstown Gaels into Keegan Cup final

Simonstown Gaels booked their place in the 2016 Meath SFC final with a merited, but fortunate0-14 to 0-12 victory over Gaeil Colmcile at Páirc Tailteann this evening.

The 'fortunate' relates to the huge sigh of relief exhaled by the Simonstown supporters when Gaeil Colmcille's Brian Hanlon sent his last-kick-of-the-game goal chance the wrong side of the post from about three yards out.

Hanlon looked certain to find the net when the opportunity arose but some frantic defending by the Gaels meant a defender managed to put on enough pressure to save the day.

'That miss sort of summed up our day, we were never fluid I suppose, it was very tight, he (Brian Hanlon) was pushed on to his left foot, I didn't have a great view of it, but it summed up our day,' remarked Gaeil Colmcille manager Lar Wall.

'When I saw Beano (Brian Hanlon) getting the ball I thought that 'this was it' but he was just a bit off balance and he found the side netting,' remarked Simonstown manager Colm O'Rourke who also added that his team could have had a larger lead at that stage of the game.

Simonstown were ahead by 0-7 to 0-5 at the interval with points from Padraig McKeever (two), Conor Sheridan, Seamus Kenny, Joe Lyons, Shane O'Rourke and Brian Conlon but they also lost Eanna Donoghue to a 29th minute black card.

Gaeil Colmcille stayed in touch with a brace apiece from Brian Hanlon and Seamus Mattimoe and a pointed Cormac Keegan free, but they forged ahead with a smart start to the second-half that produced points from Hanlon (free), Mattimoe (free) and Keith Reilly to lead by 0-8 to 0-7 by the 35th minute.

Simonstown countered with a McKeever point to tie the scores for the fifth time and then O'Rourke gave the Gaels the lead before Hanlon's free drew the sides level again, for the last time with 18 minutes remaining.

Impact-substitiute Mickey Brennan, who was easy to spot with bright orange boots, scored the first of his three fine points for the Gaels and they were augmented by a brace of McKeever frees.

Gaeil Colmcille stayed in touch through three Fionn Reilly points, but all the drama was packed into the last kick of the ball as the Gaels survived.