Kingdom dig it out in atrocious conditions

IT was never going to be a classic in the conditions. Straight away we were into game of two halves territory. Really and truly thiis wasn’t a contest for the hurling purists. Still the diehards of braved the impending weather storm and, while both sides did produce a tight affair in dire conditions, the quality of hurling suffered.

The normally superb pitch in Trim was heavy and slowed the game considerably, the wind that blew into the leisure centre end of the ground limited quality delivery to either end and as the ground turned to a quagmire the players’ legs visibly tired.

The early stages of Storm Dennis ensured difficult conditions for decent hurling and at times it looked as if the players were auditioning for Dancing on Ice rather than trying to win precious league points. Kerry dominated the early stages as the wind blew in Meath’s favour.

Shane Conway, described in the national media as the ‘Messi of hurling’ following his exploits with UCC in the Fitzgibbon Cup, opened the scoring from a 22-metre free after Jordan Conway was fouled.

Pádraig Boyle had the freedom of St Loman’s Park to double Kerry’s advantage four minutes later and by the seventh minute Jordan Conway had extended the advantage to 0-3 to 0-0.

It took Meath an age to find their feet, literally. Damien Healy had a shot from a tight angle comfortably saved and before the hosts finally opened their account from a Podge O’Hanrahan point in the 18th minute they conceded another point to a Shane Conway free and had both Simon Ennis and Peter Slevin booked.

Boyle went close to grabbing the opening goal 30 seconds after O’Hanrahan’s point, but Charlie Ennis made a stunning save.

Shane Conway was uncharacteristically wayward from a couple of frees before a brilliant point from Eamon Ó Donnchadha halved the deficit. Boyle sold substitute Shane Geraghty a dummy to restore Kerry’s three-point lead in the 27th minute, but they didn’t score again for the remainder of the half as Meath improved significantly.

An O’Hanrahan free from 55-metres added Meath’s third score and two minutes later the

Ratoath marksman was on target again to close the gap to one. Paddy Potterton also made his way into the referee’s notebook before another substitute James Kelly hit Meath’s score of the half to ensure parity at the break, 0-5 each.

It appeared certain that Meath’s struggles to take advantage of the wind that blew on their backs in the opening period would haunt them in the end and that’s how it transpired as they struggled to create scoring opportunities.

It wasn’t from a lack of effort that Meath faltered. Their touch wasn’t as sharp as Kerry’s, the ball didn’t stick to the hand and the runs weren’t as decisive. Kerry were cuter when winning their frees and with their noses in front they slowed the game sufficiently to deny Meath any momentum.

That Meath only scored three points after the break epitomises their troubles. They simply couldn’t create chances in the terrible conditions, while on the counter-attack Kerry continued to cause problems.

Shane Conway edged Kerry ahead again three minutes after the break from a ‘65. Meath had a great chance a minute later when O’Hanrahan’s clever pass picked out Jack Regan, but the Kiltale man spilled the ball initially and had to settle for a point.

That proved to be Meath’s last score for almost 20 minutes as Kerry pulled away with Shane Conway converting two frees and a disputed ‘65’ and Michael Leane, Brandon Barrett and Jordan Conway also on target to open up a 0-12 to 0-6 lead with 19 minutes remaining.

There were only three scores in the closing 23 minutes, including injury-time. Meath got the next two from O’Hanrahan frees to give themselves an outside chance, but they couldn’t create the goal chance necessary and it was Messi of Kerry hurling who had the last word in injury-time, his only score from play, to secure his side’s third win of the campaign.

KERRY: Martin Stackpoole; Eric Leen, James O’Connor, Sean Weir; Tomas O’Connor, Mikey Boyle, Fionan MacKessy; Shane Nolan, Shane Conway (0-7, 4f, 2 ‘65s); Michael O’Leary, Pádraig Boyle (02), Brandon Barrett (0-1); Michael Leane (0-1), Jordan Conway (0-2), Colum Harty Subs: Dan Goggin for O’Leary, 58, Jason Diggins for Harty, 70, Donal Hunt for J Conway 74

MEATH: Charlie Ennis; Simon Ennis, Seán Geraghty, Stephen Morris; Keith Keoghan, James Toher, Luke Moran; Michael Burke, Patrick Potterton; Damien Healy, Pádraig O’Hanrahan (0-5, 4f), Peter Slevin; Éamon Ó Donnchadha (0-1), Jack Regan (0-1), Jack Walsh Subs: Shane Brennan for Ennis, 22, James Kelly (0-1) for Slevin, 29, Mikie Mullen for Walsh, 51, Callum O’Sullivan for Burke, 62, Jack McGowan for Keoghan, 65

REFEREE: Colum Gunning (Antrim)