Meath reach final despite scare

MEATH, last year’s beaten finalists, had to fend off a second-half revival at Trim on Saturday before making it to another All-Ireland minor hurling B championship decider.

The Royals had a 12-point interval lead trimmed back to the minimum before added-time scores from Evan Fitzgerald and Mikey Mullen (free) sealed the win.

The Royals led 2-10 to 0-4 at the break. Mullen, who finished with 1-7, struck for an early goal and Meath ended the half well, outscoring the Lilywhites 1-6 to 0-1. That second goal came courtesy of Brian Dowling.

Ciaran Tobin accounted for Kildare’s only score from play in the opening half and they hit four wides in a row at the start of the second period.

Brian Tobin kick-started the comeback with a 39th-minute goal and when Kevin Aherne added a second on 48 minutes, the deficit was back to five.

With James Burke taking his tally to 10 points, the minimum separated the teams as the clock ticked towards the hour mark. However, Meath reasserted their authority in added time.

SCORERS — Meath: M Mullen 1-7 (5f), B Dowling 1-1, N Potterton 0-3, E Fitzgerald, J Leavy, S Martin, D Gilmartin 0-1 each. Kildare: J Burke 0-10 (7f, 2 ‘65), K Aherne, B Tobin 1-0 each, C Tobin, S Cullen 0-1 each.

MEATH — A Dunne; B O’Reilly, C Butler, S Coffey; V Ward, A Murphy, B Kelly; E Fitzgerald, D Hennessy; B Dowling, S Martin, J Leavy; N Potterton, D Gilmartin, M Mullen. Subs: K Rodgers for Hennessy (23), S Walsh for Leavy (45), J Ryan for Rodgers (51), K Flynn for Gilmartin (56).

KILDARE — M Doyle; E Prizeman, R Hogan, M Barea; A Deegan, J Nolan, H Carroll; S MacDonnacha, R Boran; K Aherne, C Tobin, J Burke; S Whelan, S Cullen, B Tobin. Subs: L O’Flynn for Whelan (37), R Monaghan for Tobin (48), R Goodfellow for Deegan (56), Deegan for Aherne (60).

REF — S Hynes (Galway).