Kildare's under 21 footballers signalled their intent this year by handing Meath a 1-14 to 0-5 drubbing in their Cadbury's provincial championship clash at Pairc Tailteann. The Glenn Ryan-managed crew flew out of the traps and were 0-4 to 0-2 in front by the end of the opening quarter. The Lilywhites went onto stretch their lead to 0-8 to 0-3 by half-time with the full-forward pairing of Alan Smith and Sean Fahy sending over some fine points. Sluggish Meath never got into their stride and their lack lustre first half efforts were replicated on the restart. Kildare were always in control and they put the issue beyond doubt when Eoin O Flaitheartaigh fisted home an opportunist goal in the 46th minute. Kildare - N McConnell, C Brophy, D Brennan, S Murphy, J Browne, G Whyte 0-1, T Byrne, M Watters, N Higgins, D Whyte, E O'Flaitheartaigh, K Kelly 0-1, S Fahy, Alan Smith 1-7, G Smullen 0-1. Subs - N Hurley Smith for Smullen, J Fogarty for O'Flaitheartaigh, M O'Sullivan for Fahy, D McEnerney for Brophy Meath - M Aherne, C O'Connor, A Collins, S Carr, T Skelly, S Sheppard, S Sheridan, E Reilly, R O'Connor, A Nestor, B Sheridan 0-3, G Reilly 0-1, C Lynch, D Morgan 0-1, P Howard. Subs - C Kelly for Sheridan, C Mallon for Howard, C Staunton for Morgan, C Lynch for Reilly, D Bailey for Lynch Ref - J Bannon (Longford) Tweet

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