Lilywhites dispatch young Royals

Kildare were deserving winners of the Leinster minor clash in Skryne on Tuesday afternoon

Kildare 1-3-10 (19)

Meath 1-2-7 (14)

Physicality was key to Kildare as they dispatched of Trevor Giles’ Meath in the Leinster MFC in Skryne on Tuesday evening. This result, coupled with Louth’s win over Laois means that the Royals and the O’Moore county will compete in a winner-takes-all contest next week for a place in the preliminary quarter-final.

Ultimately, Kildare were the deserving winners of the round two clash and their strong physical presence, particularly around the middle and in the full forward line proved crucial.

Meath squandered a couple of chances for goals in the first-half. When Conn Brennan did find the back of the net in the 41st minute, which reduced the gap back to three points, Meath failed to kick on and they did not score for another 20 minutes until John Killoran raised an orange flag in injury time.

Kildare attacked with more venom and pace than the Royals. At times, Meath looked lethargic in attack. They created plenty of chances for themselves but more often than not failed to register scores.

Kilmainhamwood’s Milo Stafford got Meath’s tally underway after two minutes with a nice score. Daire Loughran then played a lovely pass to Cormac Walsh who performed a nice dummy before taking aim at the Lillywhites net but his effort went to the left of the post.

Kildare then seized momentum and two points from Jack Reilly and Logan Tennyson was followed up by a well-struck two-pointer from the boot of Greg Kelly. Thomas Dillon got Meath back on track before he set up Stafford who raised an orange flag which brought Meath back level after 10 minutes.

Scores from Kelly and Eoghan Lyons stretched Kildare ahead by two before Walsh kicked a fantastic score under pressure from the Kildare defenders. However, Walsh’s fine effort was cancelled out by Kildare’e midfielder Paidi Ryan.

Brennan tried to finish off a lovely passage of play which included a lovely one-two between Niall Smyth and Liam O’Donoghue, however the St Ultan’s man's shot was blocked and Cormac Fitzsimons was unable to convert the resulting ‘45’.

Loughran traded scores with Tennyson before the former dealt Meath a crucial blow when he was assisted by Oisin McAfee and finished to the bottom left corner of the Royal’s net. Meath tried to respond immediately but a nice move which had some lovely link-up play between Dillon and Brennan went abegging when Kildare net-minder Joe Crotty denied Brennan a goal.

After 25 minutes, Kildare led 1-8 to 0-6 and they stretched that gap to seven points when Reilly and Liam Mescal, no relation to the actor, raised white flags. Stafford pulled one back for the Royals just before the break and at the interval Meath trailed 0-7 to 1-10.

After the restart, neither side really seized control. There were plenty of missed opportunities at either end but scores from Stafford and Brennan kept Meath ticking over. However, Kildare maintained their half-time advantage with a point from Lyons and a ‘45’ courtesy of Tennyson.

In the 41st minute, Harry McGuirk played a lovely pass to Brennan who then turned on the burners and burst through the Kildare defence before he expertly dispatched the ball to the net with power. That goal reduced Kildare’s lead back to three but it failed to inspire the Royals to kick on.

Instead, the Lilywhites kicked a brace of two-pointers, courtesy of Reilly and Kelly, which in truth put the game to bed. After Brennan’s goal, Meath failed to score for 20 minutes but in injury time substitute John Killoran raised a consolation orange flag.

Kildare - Joe Crotty; Eoin Markey, Ryan Crawford, Liam Mescal (0-1); Fionn Lawlor, Oisin McAfee, Luke Shanahan; Charlie Doran, Paidi Ryan (0-1); Jamie Flood, Aodhan Bergin, Eoghan Lyons (0-2); Jack Reilly (0-4 one two-point free, one free), Greg Kelly (0-5 two two-pointers), Logan Tennyson (1-3 two fees, one ‘45’). Subs - Aidan Tobin for Flood 38m, Gaeroid Clare for Tennyson, Dylan Daniels both 51m, Eoghan Lyons for Lawlor 56m, Jack Doran for Mescal 59m.

Meath - Cormac Fitzsimons; Ben Browne, Tomas Clarke, Niall Rogan; Liam O’Donoghue, Harry McGuirk, Niall Smyth; Alex Keane, Tomas Proudfoot; Cormac McKenna, Tomas Dillon (0-1), Conn Brennan (1-1); Cormac Walsh (0-1), Milo Stafford (0-5 one free, one two-pointer), Daire Loughran (0-1). Subs - John Killoran (0-2 two-pointer) for O’Donoghue half-time, Conor McTigue for Dillon 40, Harris Moffat for Loughran 43m, Caolan Comey 46m, Harry Keating for McGuirk 58m.

Referee: Kevin Williamson (Offaly)