Kerry withstand late Royal rally

IN the end it was probably a little too close for comfort for the Kingdom, but there was no denying that they deserved their victory over the Royals in Navan on Saturday afternoon. That said Meath, down to fourteen men for much of the game, pushed Kerry all the way.

Fintan O’Connor’s men went into the game as warm favourites off the back of their victory over Nick Fitzgerald’s men in the National League (by sixteen points) and started the game in a positive manner when Shane Conway converted a free won by Abbeydorney’s James O’Connor.

Meath, however, were level when Adam Gannon pointed and after Paddy Conneely was fouled he recovered sufficiently to give the hosts the lead for the first time from the resultant free. A Conway ‘65 and a disputed point from Jack Goulding, which the umpire didn’t raise his flag for restored Kerry’s lead, 0-3 to 0-2.

Conneely restored parity before Alan Douglas picked up his first yellow card for a high tackle on Mikey Boyle in the 18th minute.

Goalkeeper Martin Stackpoole converted the free from his own 65-metre line to level it up for the fourth time and that trend continued with Conneely (free) and Bryan Murphy, from inside his own 45-metre line, trading scores.

A massive score from Conneely was followed by an equally impressive score from Keith Keoghan as Meath opened up a two-point lead, 0-7 to 0-5, for the first time, but then Douglas saw red when he picked up a second yellow after a shoulder challenge on John Buckley to leave Meath down to fourteen men after just 28 minutes.

The Meath response to that setback was to pull three points clear with James Kelly lofting over, but Kerry pulled one back before the break through Brendan O’Leary to close the gap to 0-6 to 0-8 at half-time.

However, after the resumption Kerry pulled clear with points from Padraig Boyle (four), Shane Conway (two), Brandon Barrett (two), Daniel Collins and Mikey Boyle moving them 0-16 to 0-9 clear. Keoghan hit Meath’s sole reply in that spell, while Kelly also struck the crossbar with a brilliant effort.

Trailing by seven at the end of the third quarter Meath settled again and played some neat hurling, hitting five of the next six points with Conneely (three, two frees), Joey Keena and Regan on target to make it 0-14 to 0-17 with 66 minutes gone.

Another Conway point from a placed ball pushed Kerry two scores clear and, while Meath almost grabbed a goal with Regan having a free saved, they were clutching at straws. Keena closed the gap to three again and when Geraghty saw his late chance sail over the bar it left Meath down and out as Kerry celebrated survival.

With just a few breaks going their way Kerry could not be looking at pushing on for a place in the final, but all things considered safety from relegation is a fitting reward for this young squad. KERRY: Martin Stackpoole (0-1 free); Sean Weir, John Buckley, Bryan Murphy (0-1); Brandon Barrett (0-2), Daniel Collins (0-1), James O’Connor; Jordan Conway, Brendan O’Leary (0-1); Daithi Griffin, Mikey Boyle (0-1), Barry O’Mahonys; Jack Goulding (0-1), Padraig Boyle (0-4; 3f), Shane Conway (0-6; 2f, 2 ‘65’) Subs: Shane Nolan for Griffin, 49, Daniel O’Carroll for Goulding, 59, Tom Murnane for Weir, 64, Maurice O’Connor for Conway, 66, Stephen Leane for J O’Connor, 73

MEATH: Shane McGann; Shane Brennan, Sean Geraghty, Darragh Kelly; Joey Keena (0-2), Damien Healy, Keith Keoghan (0-2); Gavin McGowan, Alan Douglas; Cathal McCabe, James Kelly (0-1), Paddy Conneely (0-6; 3f); Stephen Morris, Adam Gannon (0-2), David Conneely Subs: Neil Heffernan for McGowan, 49, Jack Regan (0-1) for Healy, 53, Sean Quigley for J Kelly, 55, James Toher for McCabe, 59, Colm O Mealoid for Gannon, 64