Final quarter rally rescues Royals

Meath 2-15

Kildare 0-18

EANNA MACKEY

Meath secured a dramatic victory over Kildare in the opening round of the Leinster MHC on a glorious spring day in Trim on Saturday afternoon.

Na Fianna starlet Ben Healy was central to the Royals’ victory, ending the day with an impressive final tally of 2-8. Meanwhile, Naas man Cuan Óg MacAogáin was superb for the Lilywhites, hitting an impressive tally himself of 0-9.

The Lilywhites opted to play with a considerable breeze blowing into the Aura end in the opening half, but it was the Royals who made the perfect start to the game, with Ben Healy firing a rasping shot to the net within 21 seconds of the throw-in. However, the visitors responded well with scores from MacAogáin and Michael Reilly to cut the gap to the minimum.

Darragh Wright and Kian McKeigue responded for the Royals to raise two white flags before the talismen of MacAogáin and Healy traded frees to leave the scoreboard at 1-3 to 0-3 by the 10th minute. McKeigue and Healy added further scores to push Meath five ahead before Kildare wrestled control of the contest for the remainder of the half with a dominant purple patch.

The Lilywhites hit six of the next seven scores, with Naas' MacAogáin adding four to his tally alongside a score apiece from Oisín McAffee and Eoghan Lyons. The only response the Royals had during the Kildare purple patch was a badly needed 23rd minute free from Ben Healy.

Sean Higgins and MacAogáin added further scores for the visitors as Kildare went in ahead at the interval, leading 0-11 to 1-6.

The Royals began the second half in nearly identical fashion to the first, with Ben Healy showing off his wristwork to bury another stylish shot to the net 25 seconds after the restart to edge Meath 2-6 to 0-11 in front.

Kildare responded to their credit and dominated the next 10 minutes, hitting 0-5 without reply, with scores from MacAogáin and Oisín McAffee as well as a brilliant sideline cut from Adam Conway to push them 0-16 to 2-6 in front.

However, the crucial final quarter was dictated by the home side, who outscored the visitors 0-9 to 0-2, with Kildare’s last score of normal time coming in the 45th minute.Na Fianna man Healy hit two in a row before Aaron Moylan responded for Kildare. Alex Cole and Cathal Flynn raised further white flags before Healy levelled the game with an inspirational score with six minutes to play, as the scoreboard read 0-17 to 2-11.

Five minutes from time, the ever-menacing MacAogáin won the Lilywhites a penalty, having been hauled down inside the square. As the Naas player stepped up to bury his effort and quell the Meath fightback, Callum McKeon stood tall to dive to his right and maintained his clean sheet.

With the wind in their sails, Healy and Cathal Flynn edged Meath ahead. McKeigue added an injury-time free that was cancelled out by Eoghan Lyons before, with the last puck of the game, Ben Healy restored the goal advantage to give the Royals safe passage into round three in a fortnight’s time.

Meath : Callum McKeon; Patrick Guy, Fionn Ennis, Charlie McHugh; Conor Heffernan, Evan Lawless, Charlie Fagan; Darragh Wright (0-1), Oisin Hughes; Cathal Flynn (0-2), Alex Cole (0-1 free), Rob Kelly; Ben Healy (2-8 four frees) Kian McKeigue (0-3 two frees), Andrew Doyle. Subs : Dylan Kealy forWright 30m, Brandon Curtis for Doyle 49m, Eoghan O’Connor for Kelly 54m.

Kildare : Elliot Dwyer; Conor Dunphy, Cathal Cosgrove, Jack King; Aaron Moylan (0-1), Charlie Allen, Dara Lynch; Michael Reilly (0-1), Finnan O’Rourke; Eoghan Lyons (0-2 one free), Adam Conway (0-1), Oisin McAffee (0-2); Senan Nicholson, Sean Higgins (0-1), Cuan Óg MacAogain (0-9 six frees). Subs : Luke Cahill for Higgins 40m, Patrick O’Brien for Conway 50m, Rory Cook for Reilly 58m.