The 16th Man

After a less than enthralling encounter between Cork and Roscommon a damp Croke Park crowd were treated to one of the games of the championship.

Kildare and Meath put on an exhibition of forward play that punctuated the squally showers that drove fans to the cover of the stands.

The Lilywhites put in an emphatic second half performance with Johnny Doyle and James Kavanagh leading the way after the loss of Dermot Earley through injury in the first minute.

Kildare seemed shell-shocked by the absence of their talismanic midfielder and Meath took full advantage going six pints clear early on.

The Meath forward line was on fire, Cian Ward, Shane O’Rourke and the experienced Joe Sheridan clocked in with points before another goal line controversy awarded Meath a goal.

Sheridan’s quick turn and strike caught Kildare goalkeeper Shane Mc Cormack off guard, he saved onto the crossbar and into Brian Meade’s arms who was fouled as he made progress towards goal.

Mc Cormack will be disappointed he didn’t keep out Cian Ward’s penalty, the ball escaping his grasp before dribbling over the line.

Kildare didn’t panic, Doyle (2), Eoghan O’Flaherty and Kavanagh all scored however Meath restored their four point lead through Chris O’Connor and Graham Reilly.

James Kavanagh has been one of the finds of this year’s Championship with performances that have placed him as a definite All-Star contender and it was a moment of magic from the Ballymore Eustace man that began Kildare’s revival.

He plucked down a high searching ball, threw a dummy solo that left Brendan Murphy in no mans land, leaving a simple tap in.

Throughout the first half Meath had a habit of scoring four points on the trot and they did it again, however another Kildare goal from the fist of Alan Smith all but cancelled that out.

This meant one point separated the teams at the break. Meath 1-09 – 2-05 Kildare.

Kieran McGeeney’s men greeted the second half the better and points from Padraig O’Neill, Doyle, Emmet Bolton and Eoghan O’Flaherty (2) had the white section of 47,016 fans on their feet.

Meath’s resulting three points ended the points tally for the team and Kildare continued striding forward with confidence. Doyle shook of the shackles after a poor performance against Monaghan and once again showed his prowess inside the opponent’s half.

He was backed up by O’Flaherty and between them they added six points to Kildare’s lead. It spelled the end of Meath’s Championship for another year and the team’s frustration manifested itself in a second yellow card for Seamus Kenny.
Teams and Scorers:
Kildare
S McCormack, P Kelly, H McGrillen, A MacLochlainn, M O’Flaherty, E Bolton (0-1), B Flanagan, D Flynn, D Earley, J Kavanagh (1-1, 0-1f), P O’Neill (0-2), E O’Flaherty (0-5, 2f), J Doyle (0-8, 3f), A Smith (1-0), E Callaghan.
Subs
H Lynch for Earley, M Foley for Flanagan, R Sweeney for Callaghan, G White for Bolton, D Lyons for Kelly

Meath
B Murphy, C O’Connor (0-1), K Reilly, E Harrington, A Moyles, G O’Brien, C King, N Crawford, B Meade (0-1), S Kenny, J Sheridan (0-3), G Reilly (0-2), C Ward (1-2, 1-0 pen, 0-2f), S O’Rourke (0-2), S Bray.
Subs
C McGuinness for Moyles, J Queeney (0-1, f) for Ward

Referee: M Duffy (Sligo)

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