Kells strike late to stun the Hill

Fionn Reilly was the hero for Gaeil Colmcille in their SFC clash with Summerhill

Gaeil Colmcille 1-4-10

Summerhill 0-2-15

Gaeil Colmcille stunned Summerhill with a late two-pointer to clinch victory in the SFC at Trim on Saturday evening. The Kells outfit were very resilient and survived a serious late charge from Summerhill. David Clare's side actually drew level in injury time having trailed by four with five minutes remaining. Fionn Reilly was the hero for Gaeil Colmcille with a brilliant late strike to seal the win in an enthralling encounter.

The opening quarter was a difficult watch and the game didn't really come to life until the second quarter. After 12 minutes and plenty of missed opportunities for both sides, the sides remained level at 0-1 apiece.

Conor Frayne hit a brace of points, the second of which was a lovely move that involved a nice link-up with his brother Eoghan before Conor Frayne threw a dummy while under pressure from two defenders and tapped over.

Adam McDonnell then struck for a two-pointer on the dressing room side of Trim's pitch before two further points from Eoghan Frayne and David Larkin put Summerhill 0-7 to 0-1 up after 20 minutes.

Gaeil Colmcille finally got their act together and a well-worked move finished off by Daniel Farrelly sparked Conn Cleary's side into life. An Ajay Tormey point followed before Liam Ferguson played a lovely ball into Oisin Walsh and he produced a fantastic finish to the bottom right of the Summerhill net.

Gaeil Colmcille also hit the last four points of the half through Jonny Quigley, Barry Farrelly and a brace from Andrew Gormley. Having trailed 0-7 to 0-1 after 20 minutes, extraordinarily Gaeil Colmcille led at the break 1-7 to 0-7.

The sides traded blows early after the resumption before Gaeil Colmcille hit two wonderful two-point frees in a row courtesy of Andrew Gormley and Barry Farrelly. Those two scores helped the men in white extend the gap to 1-13 to 0-10 after 40 minutes of action.

Eoghan Frayne hit back with a two-point free of his own and points from Jack Bannon and Diarmuid McCabe helped reduce the gap back to the minimum.

In a game that ebbed and flowed throughout, Gaeil Colmcille seized back momentum and the man between the sticks, Barry Farrelly hit his second two-point free to hand Gaeil Colmcille a four-point advantage with only five minutes of normal time remaining.

Summerhill were down but not out. A fantastic score from McCabe was followed by an even more impressive strike from Conor Lyons. Lyons effort was rewarded with two points and the gap was now back to one.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man, Meath captain for 2025, Eoghan Frayne stepped up and hit what everyone in attendece thought would be the point that earned Summerhill a share of the spoils but in the dying moments, the men in blue and yellow's hearts were broken by Gaeil Colmcille substitute Fionn Reilly. Reilly hit an absolute peach of a two-pointer and Summerhill had no time left to respond.

Gaeil Colmcille - Barry Farrelly (0-5 one free, two two-point frees); Adam Donnelly, Rian Early, Adam Muldoon; Jonny Quigley (0-2), Jordan Muldoon, Daniel Farrelly (0-1); Liam Ferguson, Seamus Mattimoe (0-3 one free, one two-point free); Aaron Browne, Ajay Tormay (0-1), John Gormley; Andrew Gormley (0-4 four frees), Oisin Walsh (1-0), Oisin Reilly. Subs - Ryan Farnham for Browne 47m, Fionn Reilly (0-2 one two point) for John Gormley 48m, Brian Hanlon for Walsh 55m, Evan Sheridan for Daniel Farrelly 56m.

Summerhill - Sean Muddiman; Ben Moran, Ronan Rya, Iarla Hughes; Jack Bannon (0-2), Ross Ryan, Jamie O'Shea; Adam McDonnell (0-2 one two-point), Adam Flanagan; David Larkin (0-2), Diarmuid McCabe (0-2), Kevin Ryan; Conor Frayne (0-4), Barry Dardis (0-1), Eoghan Frayne (0-4 one free, one two-point free). Subs - Conor Lyons (0-2 one two-point) for O'Shea 38m, Eamon McDonnell for Dardis 48m, John Lavelle for Moran 56m.