Meath to face Dublin in Saturday final

The ability of Meath goalkeeper Lee Browne to deny Kildare more than one goal was the vital factor in Meath's 2-13 to 1-12 victory against Kildare the u-17 Leinster Special FC semi-final at Newbridge on Tuesday night.

Now the Meath lads will have a showdown in the decider against Dublin next Saturday - possible at Nowlan Park in Kilkenny as part of a double header with the Meath JFC team.

Meath defeated Dublin in the first round of the competition but the back door provided a pathway for the Dubs to get back into the competition and they defeated Laois in the other semi-final tonight.

At Newbridge tonight, Meath kept on winning. In the seventh minute Kildare's Shane O'Sullivan burst through the middle of the Meath defence and blasted a shot that looked netbound from the moment he struck it, but that was reckoning without the St Colmcille's stopper who dived spectacularly to his right to push the effort around the post.

Then early in the second half  O'Sullivan did the spadework before freeing full forward Paidi Behan who hit an angled drive from close range that Browne reacted superbly to block.

Neither effort was a miss, both were denied by top class saves.

The first goal arrived on the stroke of half time, Seneschalstown's Dylan Keating, who had just arrived on as a substitute, found the net from close range after a good one-two with Sean Ryan.

The opening period's other talking points were the long-distance free-taking of both centre-backs.

Meath's Liam Byrne boomed over one point from 60 metres while his Kildare counterpart, DJ Earley, landed one from asimilar distance and also converted a '45.'

The Royal's led by 1-7 to 0-6 at the break, but it wasn't until their second goal arrived after 40 minutes that they could begin to relax.

The score resulted from the hard work of one wing forward and the goal-poaching skills of the other, when Cian McBride rose highest to flick a Patrick Matthews lob past stranded Kildare 'keeper Eric Evans.

Kildare replied almost immediately when space somehow opened up in front of the Meath goal and O'Sullivan eventually found a way past Browne with a scuffed shot that just about made it across the line.

Meath were still comfortable in front. And ended on a high when wing-back Conal Courtney sprinted forward for the last point.

Meath - Lee Browne; Sean Bannon, Sean Ryan, Michael Gavin; Oran Smullen, Liam Byrne (0-1), Conal Courtney (0-1);  Colm Doherty (0-1), Fergal Waters; Cian McBride (1-0), Shane Walsh (0-3),Patrick Matthews; Aaron Lynch, Jordan Morris (0-3), Matthew Costelloe (0-2). Subs - Dylan Keating (1-1) for Lynch, Jack O'Connor (0-1) for Costelloe, Michael Murphy for Waters

Kildare - Eric Evans; Leon Tsang, Conor Lynch, Karl Hartley; Justin Reilly, DJ Earley (0-2), James Ebbs; Cian McQuillan (0-1), Adam Steed; Sam McCormack (0-2), Shane O'Sullivan (1-2), Jack Doyle; Billy Maher (0-1), Paidi Behan (0-2), Darragh Kirwan (0-2). Subs -  James Carey for Doyle, Oisin Byrne for Tsang, Mark Cully for McCormack, Eoin Conneff for Steed, James Behan for Paidi Behan