Kildare 2-9; Meath 2-7: Although they endured an anxious final 10 minutes, during which their defence came under severe pressure, Kildare deservedly qualified for the final of the Leinster under 21 championship by defeating Meath 2-9 to 2-7 in Tullamore.

Overly vigorous play saw Meath concede 17 first-half frees to keep the Lilywhites on the offensive, and the teams changed ends with Kildare holding a comfortable 2-5 to 1-2 lead.

The Kildare goals came from a penalty by James Kavanagh in the 10th minute and an opportunistic flick by corner forward Ross Glavin following Hugh Lynch's free a minute before the break.

Meath had the better of the second-half exchanges, but wasted a number of good scoring chances and with 10 minutes left they were 2-9 to 1-5 in arrears.

However, in an exciting finish a goal by Brian Farrell and two pointed frees by Joe Sheridan had Kildare on the rack and glad to hear the final whistle. They will now meet Dublin in the final in Navan in two weeks' time.

KILDARE: T Curley; M Hogarty, R McCabe, A McLoughlin; M Dowling, M Foley, J Lonergan; W Heffernan, D Flynn (0-1); D McCormack, J Kavanagh (1-3), H Lynch; R Glavin (1-0), A Kelly, T Archibold (0-2), Subs: E McCormack (0-3) for Kelly. S Darcy for Foley.

MEATH: R Nolan; J Geogeghan, C King, B O'Reilly; N McLoughlin, T O'Connor, J Melia; M Ward, S Corrigan; M Burke (0-2), F Murphy, T Farrelly; B Farrell (1-0), R Maloney, J Sheridan (1-5), Subs: G McCluskey for Maloney. M Shankey for McCluskey. D Moran for Geogeghan, J Bruton for Corrigan

Referee: S Farrell (Dublin)