Royals fall just short in Kehoe Cup endeavour

Johnny Greville's Meath side rattled the net three times against Wicklow but still came up just short at Dunganny.

Wicklow 0-16

Meath 3-6

Meath came up just short in their second and final Kehoe Cup fixture against Wicklow on Sunday. The Royals had to beat Wicklow by three points to win the preseason competition so a slender victory for the Garden County was enough for them to secure silverware at Dunganny.

Johnny Greville will be disappointed by Meath’s second-half tally of just 1-2 as his side make their final preparations for their opening NHL Div 2 fixture against London next Saturday. Despite Wicklow having the lion's share of scoring opportunities, goals from Tom Shine, Mark Leavy and a late one from Jack Walsh kept Meath within touching distance throughout.

Wicklow had plenty of wides in the opening quarter while Meath were clinical with their chances. When the visitors did get a grasp of where the posts at Meath GAA HQ were, they kicked on and crucially outscored the Royals in the second quarter by 0-8 to 1-1.

Scores were hard to come by in the second-half. Meath’s tally of 1-2 was enough to win the half but it saw them fall just short of victory.

After he missed the Down game a week ago through injury, Lorcan Byrne returned to Johnny Greville’s starting 15 and really impressed in midfield. The young Kilmessan grafter put in a huge shift and will have a massive part to play in Greville’s plans for the season ahead.

A brace of points from midfielder Padraig Doran handed Wicklow an early advantage before his Meath counterpart Tom Shine got the Royals off the mark. A couple of minutes later Sean Doyle was dragged to the ground inside the large rectangle and the official signalled for a penalty. Tom Shine slotted past Meitheal Cleary and after five minutes Meath led 1-1 to 0-2.

Three points on the spin for Wicklow courtesy of Luke Evans and a Fionn Darcy brace edged them back in front but several missed opportunities left the door open for Meath to regain the lead, which they did through Shine and Byrne. At the end of the first quarter the Royals led narrowly 1-3 to 0-5.

A poor puck-out from Philip O’Brien was punished by Wicklow when Jack Doyle slotted over from distance. That seemed to ignite the men in blue and yellow as they rattled off the next three scores in quick succession through Doran, Sam O’Dowd and Darcy.

After a lovely pass in from Mikey Cole, Mark Leavy produced a stunning finish for Meath’s second major which drew the Royals level. Meath had two more goal chances in the first half as Darren O’Higgins did everything right twice apart from finding the net.

In the last five minutes of the first-half Wicklow hit three points in a row through a Doran brace and one for Seanie Germaine. A long free from Simon Ennis was well claimed by Eoin Donegan and in the final piece of action before half-time the Wolfe Tones man slotted over. At the interval, Wicklow led 0-12 to 2-4.

The highlights of an extremely dull third quarter were two fantastic saves from Gavin King within the first five minutes after the restart. It was not until the 48th minute that a score was finally registered in the second-half, a free from Doran.

Shine responded for the Royals with a well-struck ‘65’ and a nice point from Leavy brought Meath back to within a point. However, Wicklow responded and stretched that slender advantage to four points through a brace of frees from Doran and one from substitute Willy Cash.

A late Jack Walsh goal gave Meath hope but after a relatively brief period of injury time Mark Ryan sounded the final whistle and confirmed Wicklow as Kehoe Cup champions.

Wicklow - Meitheal Cleary; Ben Kearney, Bryan Kearney, Ruairi O’Brien; Tommy Collins, John Henderson, Emmet Blanchfield; Padraig Doran (0-8), Sam O’Dowd (0-1); Kenneth Cullen, Luke Evans (0-1), Seanie Germaine (0-1); Fionn Darcy (0-3), Andrew Kavanagh, Jack Doyle (0-1). Subs - Eoin McCormack for Cullen 31m, Conor McNally for Cleary half-time, Ian Clancy for O’Brien, Conall Byrne for Ben Kearney both 39m, Willie Cash (0-1) for Darcy 51m.

Meath - Philip O’Brien; Conor Leavy, Daire Shine, Jarlath Ennis; Darragh Heffernan, Simon Ennis, Noah Conroy; Lorcan Byrne (0-1), Tom Shine (1-3, 1-0 penalty, two frees, one ‘65’); Damien Healy, Mikey Cole, Eoin Donegan (0-1); Darren O’Higgins, Sean Doyle, Mark Leavy (1-1). Subs - Gavin King for O’Brien, Joey Cole for Donegan both half-time, Cathal Barron for M Cole 34m, Sean Geraghty for Conroy 39m, Rory Fagan for Doyle, Jack Walsh (1-0) for Healy both 47m, Anthony Healy for C Leavy 53m.

Referee - Mark Ryan (Dublin)