Kildare captain Johnny Doyle says he is delighted his side have booked their place in the last four of the Leinster SFC, despite kicking 18 wides against Meath at Croke Park yesterday.

Kieran McGeeney's men scored a 0-16 to 0-10 win over the Royals and veteran Doyle, who turned in a 'Man of the Match' performance, feels there'ss plenty more for the team to do ahead of a mouth-watering provincial semi-final date with Dublin.

"Our shooting did let us down today and it is something we have to work on," said Doyle afterwards. "The fact that we are creating a high number of chances is a positive. I don't know whether it is panic in front of goal or bad shot selection, but it is an aspect of our play that can cause frustration.

"Today, we scored 16 points which would win many games, so I suppose we can't be too hard on ourselves. We've had two games in the championship now and two wins under our belt.

"I feel we are in a good place now compared to last year when Louth gave us a bit of a spanking at this stage of the championship."

Doyle felt that Kildare kept their focus at a crucial stage in the game after Meath had been reduced to 14 men following the dismissal of Brian Farrell, and also admitted that he thought the decision of Syl Doyle to disallow Graham Geraghty's goal for square ball was a correct one.

"Typical Meath, they will always fight to the bitter end and when Graham Geraghty punched the ball into the net my first reaction was a square ball. We got the ruling in our favour and we're going to take the victory," said Doyle.

He added: 'A team that goes down to 14 men can often give a side renewed hope. Meath battled right to the end, and we had to maintain our focus which I think we did." Tweet

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