Kildare 0-18 Meath 2-11:A CRACKING, high intensity contest at Páirc Tailteann on Saturday night ended with Kildare gaining a badly needed victory to chalk up a fifth successive win over Meath in league and championship clashes.
A draw would probably have been the fairest outcome to an encounter which gave the 4,000 crowd great value for money, but Kildare recovered well from the concession of two goals in the second half with corner-back Ollie Lyons’ second point, punched over the bar on 59 minutes, giving them the spoils.
The sides were on level terms nine times and there was never any more than three points between them. Despite the closeness of the exchanges, Kildare threatened to run riot in the opening quarter but a few wasteful wides, as well as a couple of missed goal chances, let Meath off the hook.
Kildare boss Kieran McGeeney was relieved and pleased to get two points on the board following defeats to Tyrone and Monaghan. “It was a game which both sides wanted to win for different reasons and both went for it strongly,” he said. “Meath went in full of confidence after two wins and we may have been lacking in confidence. I wouldn’t be happy over the manner in which the goals were given away but I’m happy at the way we battled back and grabbed the win at the end,” he said.
McGeeney also had reason to be pleased at the statistic that 10 of his players shared the impressive total of 18 points. Fifteen of them came from open play with chief marksman Eoghan O’Flaherty’s six points divided equally between play and frees.
Meath manager Séamus McEnaney described his team’s display as “a fantastic performance, especially in the second half”, adding, “four points out of six is not a bad place to be and we can look forward to meeting Galway next weekend”.
KILDARE: S Connolly; A McLoughlin, M Foley, O Lyons (0-2); E Bolton, M O’Flaherty (0-1), H McGrillen (0-1); D Flynn (0-1), P O’Neill (0-2); J Kavanagh, J Doyle, M Conway (0-1); E Callaghan (0-2), T O’Connor (0-1), E O’Flaherty (0-6, 3f). Subs: P Kelly for Foley (33 mins); R Sweeney for Flynn (40); A Smith (0-1) for Kavanagh (51); C Fitzpatrick for McLoughlin (56); K Ennis for Doyle (67).
MEATH: D Gallagher; M Burke (0-1), K Reilly, B Menton; G O’Brien, S McAnarney (0-1), C McGuinness; B Meade, M Ward; S Kenny, G Reilly, C O’Connor (0-1); P Gilsenan (1-2), S Bray (0-4, 3f), C Ward (0-1). Subs: D Tobin (1-0) for O’Brien (25 mins); J Sheridan for C Ward (38); C King for McGuinness, T Walsh (0-1) for Meade (both 47); G Geraghty for G Reilly (67).
Referee: M Collins (Cork).
