Meath 1-16 Kildare 1-11
Meath defeated Kildare by five points in the Leinster semi-final at Croke Park this afternoon and will meet arch rivals Dublin in the provincial final on July 15th.
It may have not been the game most had anticipated but the Meath machine is gradually finding the right gears to mount a serious championship assault.
Despite an enthusiastic start to the game, Meath took to the break with a slender one point advantage.
Indeed it took until the second half, when Padraig Brennan pointed from a free, for Kildare to be on a par with their counterparts for the first time at 0-10 apiece.
Moments later a fine individual point from the Sarsfields man gave Kildare the lead.
The teams were reduced to 14 men each ten minutes later after Meath's Paddy Reynolds appeared to strike the previously booked Ken Doyle.Reynolds received his marching orders before Doyle - who was receiving treatment on the floor - followed him on a second yellow.
Meath's advantage was restored when Graham Geraghty added two more superb individual points.The game’s turning point came with 15 minutes remaining when Kildare ‘keeper Christy Byrne pulled Richie Kealey down in the area.
Trevor Giles comfortably converted the resulting penalty to establish a four point a lead. A defiant Kildare however pulled a goal back when Niall Buckley’s 45 dropped into the area and Killian Brennan punched home.
When Kildare failed to win back possession from the restart Meath won a late free when Ollie Murphy had his jersey pulled.Giles scored with ease to bring his individual tally to 1-5.
Donal Curtis added to the Lily Whites' woes when he scored a cracking injury time point to finish the game off.
The two teams fought out a tough, entertaining opening half. Meath, having dominated the first 15 minutes, held a slender one point advantage at the break.
Meath looked the sharper unit early on and despite going a point down to a Niall Buckley score, were soon back on top with points from Nigel Nestor, Graham Geraghty and a free from Trevor Giles.
Ollie Murphy caused the Kildare full back many headaches with his mazzy runs and registered his first score inside ten minutes.
Kildare full forawrd Carl O’Dwyer fisted a point before Giles maintained Meath’s lead with another fine free.Eddie McCormack scored a decent point to keep Mick O’Dwyer’s side in touch but at the other end Geraghty scissor kicked a crossed ball over the bar.
Kildare replaced O’Dwyer with Brian Murphy after 30 minutes.