Impressive win for Royal hurlers
With the legendry Sean Boylan assisting Vinny Guy on the sideline Meath showed typical powers of resilience and recovery to claim an impressive 2-17 to 1-14 All-Ireland u-20 B HC victory over Kildare in Trim this evening.
Leading by two points at the break Meath conceded a calamitious goal within 50 seconds of the restart and boosted by that score Kildare tagged on another brace of points to move into a 1-9 to 0-9 lead and looked well placed to advanced.
However, in typical style of a Boylan-inspired team Meath clawed their way back into contention and led by senior star Nicky Potterton, who scored a goal in the Royals Christy Ring Cup final victory over Down, they dominated the remainder to claim the victory and a place in the semi-finals.
The opening half was a tight affair with James Burke's frees giving Kildare an early boost before Mikey Mullen's placed balls and a couple of excellent scores from Ian Bermingham ensured a 0-9 to 0-7 interval lead for Meath.
That lead was wiped out by goalkeeper Mark Doyle's long range free that fell from Eoin Griffin's grasp to the net and when Liam Dempsey and Ciaran Tobin added points Kildare looked in control.
However Meath refused to panic with points from Potterton (two), Mullen and Vincent Ward restoring parity.
A superb finish from Potterton yielded Meath's first goal in the 54th minute and with three minutes of the hour remaining they led by 1-15 to 1-10.
Three successive points from Dempsey closed the gap to two as the tied headed to injury-time, but Meath settled again and boosted by Sean Martin's goal to re-established control and claimed the victory.
SCORERS
Meath – N Potterton 1-4 two frees; M Mullen 0-4 frees; S Martin 1-1; I Bermingham 0-2; E Fitzgerald 0-2; B Dowling 0-1; D ilmartin 0-1; V Ward 0-1; C O'Sullivan 0-1.
Kildare – J Burke 0-6 four frees; M Doyle 1-1 frees; L Dempsey 0-5 four frees; C Tobin 0-1;.K Aherne 0-1.
TEAMS
Meath – E Griffin; S Coffey, C Butler, S Ennis; B Kelly, C Quigley, E Fitzgeralld; D Farrell, J Ryan; B Dowling, N Potterton, V Ward; D Gilmartin, I Bermingham, M Mullen. Subs – S Martin for Gilmartin 38 mins, C O'Sullivan for Mullen 40m, P Coyne for Ward 67m.
Kildare – M Doyle; F Kelly, J Dolan, M Barea; M Byrne, R Boran, D Costello; H Dunne, J Travers; M Curtin, J Connolly, J Burke; S Whelan, K Aherne, L Dempsey. Subs – C Tobin for Whelan half-time, S MacDonnacha for Burke 35 mins, Sam Donovan for Dolan 47m.
Referee – L Gordon (Galway).
Full match report and reaction from manager Vinny Guy in Tuesday's Meath Chronicle