A scoring burst either side of the break propelled Kildare past Meath at Newbridge tonight - 1-21 to 0-13 the final score.

Corner forward Ferran O'Sullivan pounced for the only goal of this Tier Two, Round Three contest shortly before half time and the hosts also slotted a series of unanswered points after the restart to assume a winning position.

Cathal Fenton's charges will now go into the preliminary quarter-finals full of confidence, having also beaten Antrim in the round-robin stage of the competition. Harry Dunne and Jamie Ryan swapped the first two points and  Kildare dual star Muiris Curtin - who was on duty for the footballers on Wednesday night - cancelled out Ian Bermingham's point before Ryan and James Murray made it double scores in favour of the Royals.

After Curtin and Murray exchanged scores, the visitors moved five clear courtesy of Darragh O'Sullivan (2), Murray and Cathal Sherlock. But O'Sullivan's goal and a brace of points from Shane Whyte had the Lilywhites back on terms at the short whistle, 1-6 to 0-9.

Naas ace O'Sullivan, his clubmate Rossa Stapleton, Curtin, Jack Higgins and Whyte were amongst the scorers as the home side kicked on upon the restart to soar seven points ahead with 42 minutes gone. The winners finished strongly with further points from Curtin, Whyte, Michael McGovern (2), Liam Dempsey and Stapleton.

Meanwhile, in tonight's Round Three, Tier Three clash at Longwood, Carlow netted three times in the first half to defeat Down by 3-23 to 2-7.

Kildare - A Hackett; D Murray, E Dempsey, C Shanahan; B Noone, K Kelleher, D Costello; H Dunne (0-1), C Boran; M Curtin (0-7, 4f), R Stapleton (0-2), S Whyte (0-5); F O'Sullivan (1-2), L Dempsey (0-1), J Higgins (0-1). Subs: M Eustace for D Costello, M McGovern (0-2) for J Higgins, J Cleary for F O'Sullivan, J McKeown for D Murray, S Conway for C Shanahan.

Meath - C Ryan; L Gough, C Kelly, D Finlay; D Farrell, J Murray (0-6f), D O'Laoire; D O'Sullivan (0-2), I Bermingham (0-2); C McGovern, C Sherlock (0-1), C Leavy; K Bawle, A Rooney, J Ryan (0-2). Subs: D Canny for A Rooney, C Brennan for L Gough.

Referee - B Redmond.

Tweet

Most Read Stories