Published: Wednesday, 3rd February, 2010 4:47pm

Durnin points the way

by Jimmy Geoghegan

Meath 0-18, DCU 1-14

Meath's Stephen Clynch and Quentin Lynch of DCU in action during Sunday's Kehoe Cup clash at Ashbourne.
Pic by==: 97

Peter Durnin has scored his share of match-winning points for his club Kiltale and he did it again on Sunday only this time in the colours of his native county.

Durnin's injury-time intervention ensured a victory for Meath in the Kehoe Cup at Ashbourne.

His score was taken with characteristic aplomb latching onto a fine pass from Neil Hackett before slotting the ball confidently between the posts.

DCU didn't even have time to respond as referee Ciaran Groome brought the curtain down on a highly competitive encounter.

As might have been expected at this stage of the season the home side laboured at times to produce any fluent hurling.

This was understandable in what was their first competitive outing of the year. DCU were that little bit sharper and alert and they came into this tie on the back of a win over Fingal in midweek.

DCU had players from a variety of counties including Diarmuid Horan son of former Offaly star Padraig Horan while centre-back Brian Flaherty has had a run out with the Galway u-21s.

They also had some effective performers such as Colm Coughlan, Philip Murphy, Emmet Kent, Quentin Lynch and Joe Cullen.

Some measure of the problems Meath had in tapping into a vein of form could be seen in the way they trailed 0-6 to 0-9 at the interval.

Another give-away sign was the massive 20 wides they racked up over the course of the afternoon.

Meath frequently worked themselves into good positions only to fire blankets with the target well within sight. Some of this had to do with wayward shooting and some with good defending from their opponents.

Even experienced, normally clinical finishers such as Hackett and Nicky Horan missed glaring opportunities in the closing stages.

Horan fired wide when in front of the posts while Hackett missed from a free that he would normally convert with his eyes closed.

The Dunboyne man made up for his miss a minute later by doing well to win the ball from the puck out. He then made space for himself set up Durnin who slotted over what proved to be the winning score.

It should also be remembered that Hackett finished up his team's top scorer with eight points. That tally included a pointed free from half-way.

Na Fianna's Dave Kirby bagged 'only' two points. However, he made a hefty contribution to the win when he was switched from the half-backs, where he played most of the game, to the forwards in the closing stages.

Kirby added an extra zest and drive to the attack at a time when Meath badly needed another dimension up front.

Joey Keena is another who had a good day, at least a good first-half, as he caused consternation in the DCU defence every time he won possession.

He rattled off three fine points in quick succession just before the break. The teams were level four times during that first-half, an indication of how close the teams were matched.

Playing against the stiff breeze in the opening 35 minutes Meath needed to dig out scores the hard way with James Boyle and Stephen Clynch putting in a lot of good work around the middle.

As the game wore on Clynch's class began to emerge and the home side dominated the central sector.

That dominance was only exerted after DCU scored the opening goal of the afternoon with 40 minutes gone.

The students broke suddenly from defence, worked the ball upfield and Wexford's Cullen crossed for Murphy. He shrugged off a tackle, made space in an exposed Meath defence and shot to the net.

That left DCU leading by 1-10 to 0-8 and looking good. Gradually Meath asserted themselves. They whittled down the lead with points from Hackett, Derek Muldoon and Durnin before Kirby lofted over to haul them back on level terms.

Chances were spurned, but with time almost up Hackett won possession from a puck-out passed to Durnin who finished well for what proved to be the last-gasp winner.

That crucial point capped a good day for Durnin with Paul Fagan another to impress while Stephen Quinn made one superb save. There will be better days ahead for Meath when there's more hurling in the legs.

Meath will play Kildare in the semi-final this Sunday, 2.0 at a Kildare venue.

Meath - S Quinn; B Coughlan, E Fitzgerald, S Donoghue; M Horan, P Fagan, D Kirby (0-2); J Boyle, S Clynch; P Durnin (0-3), N Hackett (0-8), B Murray; M Kelly, N Horan, J Keena (0-4). Subs - P Garvey for Murray, D Muldoon (0-1) for Kelly. M Lynch for Horan.

DCU - B McCormack; T Clince, P Rowsome, Q Lynch; A Griffith, B Flaherty, D Horan (0-1); G Farrell, C Coughlan (0-5); T O hUallachain, A Creane, E Kent (0-3); J Mulrooney (0-1), P Murphy (1-1), J Cullen (0-2). Subs - E McCabe (0-1) for O hUallachain, E O'Mahony for Creane.

Referee - Ciaran Groome (Offaly).

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