Sport

Early flourish sets up Meath for final surge

Meath's authoritative first-half display sufficed to fend off the challenge of a Kerry side which improved in the second period…

Mon Aug 26 2002 - 01:00

Meath's authoritative first-half display sufficed to fend off the challenge of a Kerry side which improved in the second period of their All-Ireland minor football championship semi-final at Croke Park yesterday.

The strange thing was the Kerry selectors clearly did not know their best team at the start for it was only after the introductions of key substitutes after the interval that a convincing challenge from the Munster champions began to take shape.

But for all that, Kerry were still obliged to return home having failed to realise their scoring potential.

Meath did not take long to establish their dominance in the first half. Less than five minutes into the match the Meath attack, featuring excellent displays from Joe Sheridan, David Murtagh, and Barry Regan, had already undermined the confidence of the Kerry rearguard.

READ MORE

The result was Meath were flying, having scored 1-3 without reply. Kerry midfielder Donnacha Walsh and attack leader Declan O'Sullivan did manage, however, to offer hope to their followers that there might be better to come.

They were eventually proved right but the scoring rate was not enough to knock an impressive Meath out of their stride, thanks mainly to the staunch covering of the Meath defence.

When Kerry eventually did get off the mark, with a sixth-minute point from Walsh, the score was almost instantly answered by a Brian Farrell point at the other end.

Kerry's big chance to get into the game was brilliantly taken up by O'Sullivan when he slotted home a well-taken penalty. Walsh was involved in the lead up to the penalty kick, when after making an incisive run, he set up MacGearailt, only for the left winger to be brought down inside the square.

Kerry's full-forward line appeared to lack the confidence of their counterparts, something that was further brought home by Sheridan, Regan and Farrell at the other end, as this trio accounted for more than half their side's total, while contributing handsomely to a 2-7 to 1-4 interval lead.

It would surely have been a far closer contest had Kerry players such as Walsh and Colin O'Connor taken their goal chances when presented instead of opting for the easy option when the opportunities were provided in both halves.

This does not detract from the fact that both these players were Kerry mainstays.

Damien Breen and Damien Casey were two of the substitutes brought on that the losers could have done with right from the start.

As it was, some shortcomings were revealed in the Meath side when Kerry found better form in the second period.

But it was generally a very convincing display by the Leinster runners up, and one that bore none of the uncertainties of their one- point quarter-final win over Galway, or indeed their defeat by Longford in the provincial decider.

MEATH: M Brennan; B O'Reilly, T O'Connor, D O'Halloran; S Stephens, C King, E Dunne; J Melia, F Murphy; D Murtagh, P Murray, G McCullagh; B Regan, J Sheridan, B Farrell. Subs: R Brennan for O'Halloran, T Farrelly for McCullagh, M Whearty for Murray, A Reynolds for Melia, J Carry Lynch for Murtagh.

KERRY: B Sheehan; M Breen, C Ó Ceilleachair, J Martin Clifford; J Brosnan, M Cronin, P Sheehan; D Walsh, P Madden; M Riordan, D O'Sullivan, C MacGearailt, B Brosnan, D Doona, C O'Connor. Subs: D McCarthy for Mac Gearailt, D Casey for Riordan, M MacGearailt for Cronin, D Breen for B Brosnan.