Meath put on a determined display at Croke Park

Meath 2-11 Kildare 1-8

Meath rekindled some of their form from days gone by at Croke Park this afternoon, putting in a determined display against Kildare to book themselves a mouthwatering Leinster quarter-final clash against defending champions Dublin.

It was goals in either half from Darren Fay and Joe Sheridan which were the tonic scores for the Royals who were reduced to 14 men by the finish after full-forward Brian Farrell had been shown a straight red card.

A 35,040-strong crowd watched a hard-fought game of football at headquarters - the teams were tightly matched in the opening stages and were level on two occasions before Meath eventually broke away after 27 minutes.

Just eight minutes before half-time, Colm Coyle's charges struck a sizeable blow as a fisted goal from veteran full-back Darren Fay handed them a 1-3 to 0-3 lead and they never trailed for the remainder of the contest.

Fay's goal came as a result of some excellent work by the Meath attack with half-forward Niall McLoughlin brought to ground before he somehow managed to dispatch the ball to Stephen Bray who picked out the goalscorer.

Although the Lilywhites made a comeback before the interval with points from Emmet Bolton and John Doyle, the Royals still held a 1-4 to 0-5 half-time advantage.

Kildare were also unlucky not to have a goal in the first half's closing stages after full-forward Doyle watched his kick go inches wide of the post.

It was those missed chances which proved costly for Kildare, especially in the second half as they has eight wides in the closing 35 minutes, as against four for the eventual winners

Meath's Stephen Bray and Peadar Byrne were in fine form in the second half, while half-time substitute Peter Curran was on target just 10 seconds after the restart with an inspirational point, which set up his side nicely for the half.

Allenwood ace Doyle tried hard to keep Kildare in touch, but with Bray and Byrne impressive and a Joe Sheridan goal ten minutes from the end, struck from the penalty spot, there was simply too much daylight between the sides at 2-11 to 0-8.

Although Kildare defender Bolton did get a goal back, four minutes later, following a well worked move and a good pass from Michael Conway, it was too little, too late as Meath advanced to the next round.

MEATH: B Murphy; E Harrington, D Fay (1-0), N McKeigue; S Kenny, A Moyles, C King; M Ward, N Crawford; N McLoughlin, K Reilly (0-1), P Byrne (0-3); S Bray (0-4), B Farrell, J Sheridan (1-2).

Subs used: P Curran (0-1) for McLoughlin (half-time), C Ward for Byrne (70 mins).

KILDARE: E Murphy; E Callaghan, D Lyons, A MacLochlainn; A Rainbow (0-1), M Hogarty, E Bolton (1-1); K O'Neill (0-1), R Glavin; J Kavanagh, P O'Neill, K Donnelly; T Fennin (0-1), J Doyle (0-4, 1f), M Conway.

Subs used: J Philips for Donnelly, R Sweeney for Kavanagh (both half-time), M Foley for Hogarty (56 mins), D McCormack for Fennin, M Scanlon for Bolton (both 66).

Referee: Aidan Mangan (Kerry)