Leinster U20FC: Royals rule by the minimum
June 04, 2018
Kildare's Brian McLoughlin with Conor Harnan Meath during the Leinster U20 FC game at Pairc Tailteann
Two second-half goals were central to Meath narrow win over Kildare at Pairc Tailteann in this exciting Leinster U20 Group 2 fixture at Pairc Tailteann on Monday afternoon.
Meath ........ 2-11
Kildare ....... 1-13
The Royals second win from two starts in the competition was achieved in very different fashion to their facile opening round win over Wicklow.
Goals from Darragh Campion and sub Jordan Morris titled matters Meath's way. Campion's 43rd minute strike was followed four minutes later by the Nobber man's effort as the home side recovered from a 0-9 to 0-11 deficit after 40 minutes.
That left it 2-10 to 0-11. Kildare rallied but were unable to repeat the manner of their dramatic first round win over Laois. Jimmy Hyland's 53rd minute goal followed by a Brian McLaughlin (free) left the Lillies short.
Five minutes of added time produced no further scores as the visitors to rue some missed chances. However, better ball retention might have made a bit easier for Meath. Overall, their efforts got the reward they deserved.
In a closely contested opening half, the sides were tied five times. However, Meath led only once in the 25th minute when a Frank O'Reilly free left it 0-7 to 0-6.
Brian McLoughlin's 30th minute point left it 0-9 to 0-8 to the Lilywhites at the break. Either side of that score Meath passed up gifted edged scoring chance. Sean Reilly sent wide before at the end of good move into the town end, Conor O'Byrne was denied a goal by a brave Kildare block.
While Meath were the more wasteful early on, Tony Archbold and Paddy Woodgate pointed for Kildare. By the ninth minute the sides were level for the first time thanks to efforts from Darragh Campion and Conor Moriarity.
Kildare hit three points in as many minutes to move 0-6 to 0-3 clear after 19 minutes. Brian Farrell's men to level matters by the 24th minute. One of James Conlon's three first-half points got the sequence going
A McLoughlin point earned Kildare a 0-9 to 0-8 interval advantage.
Meath - Adam McDermott; Robbie Clarke, Conor Harnan, Kieran Slavin; Sean Reilly (0-1), Eanna O'Kelly-Lynch, Sean Ryan; Darragh Campion (C) (1-1), Adam Murphy; Eoin Smith, Ethan Devine, Frank O'Reilly (0-3, 2 fs); Conor Moriarty (0-1), Conor O'Byrne, James Conlon (0-4). Subs - Jason Scully for Moriarty (ht), Jordan Morris (1-1) for O'Byrne (37), Adam Kealy for Reilly (40), Darren Gibney for Murphy (54), James Cassidy for Smith (60+2).
Kildare - Aaron O'Neill; DJ Earley, Jack Barrett, Mark Dempsey; Mark Barrett, Jason Gibbons, Ruadhan O Giollan (0-1); Aaron Masterson, David Marnell (0-1); Brian McLoughlin (0-4, 3fs), Sam Doran (0-1), Tony Archbold (0-1); Jimmy Hyland (1-3, 2fs), Paddy Woodgate (0-2), Darragh Ryan. Subs - Cian Costigan for Barrett (37), Padraig Nash for Doran (37), Shane O'Sullivan for Marnell (44), Stephen Comerford for O Giollan (52), Niall Murphy for Woodgate (52).
Referee - Patrick Maguire (Longford).
