White heat roasting for Royal County troops at Croke Park

The begrudgers got their wish as Meath made an All-Ireland SFC quarter-final exit against an excellent Kildare side at Croke Park on Sunday. There can be no complaints. Kildare were by far the better team. They outplayed Eamonn O'Brien's side in the second-half with a sublime performance that battered Meath into submission. Meath produced a scintillating first 35 minutes of football that suggested they were genuine contenders for ultimate honours, but they collapsed in the second-half. However, in the two minutes of first-half injury-time Meath conceded a sloppy goal that brought Kildare back into a game that looked to be slipping away from them. Meath were ahead by only a point, 1-9 to 2-5 at that stage. Buoyed by that confidence-boosting goal, Kildare came out for the second-half with renewed optimism and bamboozled Meath in every sector of the field. A major inquest into where and why it went so terribly wrong in the second-half should be conducted because Meath were dire. They managed just three points after the break and it wasn't as if they squandered a load of chances because they kicked only two wides. After taking nine minutes for Shane O'Rourke to grab the first score of the second-half, Meath then went another 13 minutes without scoring again. They did manage two points in quick succession, but they failed to score in the final 14 minutes. Those periods without a score effectively handed the tie to Kildare. The Lilywhites were magnificent and there can be no denying them their rightful victory, but Meath gift-wrapped the tie and presented them with a Christmas present in August. Meath had no answer to Johnny Doyle. Following a relatively quiet first-half the Allenwood man burst into life after the break and finished with seven points, but Kildare had heroes all over the field. Eoghan O'Flaherty kicked five points while Emmet Bolton created countless opportunities with his enterprising style. Meath had no answer and were once again cleaned out at midfield, despite Kildare losing the driving force that is Dermot Earley after just two minutes. Meath made far too many errors. The full-back line was run ragged and found the going too tough. Chris O'Connor did enjoy a decent outing when he managed to get forward, but defensively Meath were a shambles. Brian Meade worked tirelessly at midfield, but most of his good work was done tracking back while Seamus Kenny never gave up until he was sent-off in injury-time for a second booking. The much lauded Meath forwards lived up to their hype in the first-half with Joe Sheridan in particular silencing the boo-boys with a majestic 35 minutes. However, after the break Sheridan hardly got a kick of the ball as the Meath forwards were marginalised and isolated too far from goals. It was a desperately disappointing conclusion to an enjoyable campaign. It had looked like it would be Meath's day when they made light of the dreadful wet conditions to produce a superb first-half display. It took five minutes before Meath found their feet. Sheridan was fouled off-the-ball by Brian Flanagan and Cian Ward tapped over a 13-metre free. O'Rourke doubled the advantage and three minutes later he saw a great goal chance slip from his grasp. Meath's mesmerising start continued when great work by Graham Reilly, Gary O'Brien, O'Rourke and O'Connor ended with Sheridan getting a fist to a high centre for a point. Two minutes later Meade won the rebound after a Sheridan drive hit the bar and he was hauled down by Aindriu MacLochlainn. Referee Marty Duffy awarded a penalty which Cian Ward just about converted to give Meath a 1-3 to 0-0 lead. Despite that six-point lead, Meath still managed to lose by eight, a 14-point turnaround! Two points from Doyle, who also missed a 13-metre free, and one each from O'Flaherty and James Kavanagh had Kildare back in the game, 0-4 to 1-3, 14 minutes before half-time. O'Connor settled Meath after a barren 12 minutes with a booming point and when Graham Reilly tagged on another Meath were back on track and looking good. However, more poor defending enabled Padraig O'Neill to point before Kavanagh won possession behind Eoghan Harrington, sold Brendan Murphy a dummy and slotted to the net from close range to tie the scores, 1-5 each. Meath's response to that goal was impressive. Sheridan kicked two magnificent scores either side of a Ward free, but evidence of what was to come was provided when Graham Reilly missed a simple point attempt before he did manage to stretch Meath's lead to four points. The second goal, a killer score, resulted from Meath's inability to deal with Bolton's long ball. O'Neill handpassed to the inrushing Alan Smith and he punched to an unguarded net to leave Kildare just 2-5 to 1-9 adrift at the break. After such a pulsating half, few could have expected Meath's subsequent collapse as Kildare upped the tempo and made little of the fact they were playing their sixth game in six weeks. Within eight minutes of the restart points from O'Neill and Doyle had Kildare in front. O'Rourke restored parity with a brilliant effort, but that was as good as it got for Meath and Kildare assumed complete control. Bolton kicked them in front 11 minutes into the second-half and they never looked back as they reached the three-quarter stage with a 2-10 to 1-10 cushion following two scores from O'Flaherty. Meath made a double substitution with Cormac McGuinness and Jamie Queeney replacing Anthony Moyles and Ward in an effort to spark a revival, but it was Kildare who continued to pile on the pressure. A foul by Gary O'Brien allowed Doyle put four points between the sides and although Meade and Queeney narrowed the deficit to two points with 12 minutes remaining there was a sense that Kildare had another gear. That is how it transpired. Meath failed to score again as Kildare turned on the style and sealed their semi-final spot against Down with Doyle adding four points and O'Flaherty kicking two to heap further misery on a deflated Meath. SCORERS Kildare - J Doyle 0-8, three frees; E O'Flaherty 0-5, two free; J Kavanagh 1-1, one free; A Smith 1-0; P O'Neill 0-2; E Bolton 0-1. Meath - C Ward 1-2, 1-0 penalty, two frees; J Sheridan 0-3; S O'Rourke 0-2; G Reilly 0-2; C O'Connor 0-1; B Meade 0-1; J Queeney 0-1, free. THE TEAMS Kildare - S McCormack; P Kelly, H McGrillen, A MacLochlainn; M O'Flaherty, E Bolton, B Flanagan; D Flynn, D Earley; J Kavanagh, P O'Neill, E O'Flaherty; J Doyle, A Smith, E Callaghan. Subs - H Lynch for Earley 2mins, M Foley for Flanagan 35m, R Sweeney for Callaghan 46m White for Bolton 57m, D Lyons for Kelly 62m. Meath - B Murphy; C O'Connor, K Reilly, E Harrington; G O'Brien, A Moyles, C King; N Crawford, B Meade; S Kenny, J Sheridan, G Reilly; C Ward, S O'Rourke, S Bray. Subs - C McGuinness for Moyles 50mins, J Queeney for Ward 50m. REFEREE Marty Duffy (Sligo).