Meath 2-14

Kildare 0-18

Ruairi O Coileain and Kevin Ross scored early goals as Meath held off Kildare's challenge at Croke Park to be crowned Leinster junior football champions for an 18th time.

Kildare introduced 41-year-old former senior star Johnny Doyle early in the second half, but he couldn't save them as the Royals avenged their defeat to the Lilywhites in last year's final. Meath can now look forward to an All-Ireland semi-final against Connacht champions Galway on the weekend of July 6/7.

Former county senior O Coileain was a late addition to the winners' starting line-up and he made an immediate impact by rifling a shot to the top left corner of the net in the 12th minute. Ross, who has also featured for the Meath seniors in the recent past, grabbed a second goal two minutes later after being set up by Sean Reilly as Davy Nelson's charges eased into a 2-4 to 0-3 lead.

Points from Jason Scully and free-taker Frank O'Reilly extended their advantage before Padraig Nash, Daniel Grehan and Jack Robinson got scores back for the holders to leave them trailing by 0-7 to 2-7 at the break.

Meath captain Michael Flood lifts the Leinster JFC trophy. ©INPHO/Ken Sutton.

Despite Doyle's introduction, Meath reeled off three unanswered points in the third quarter to lead by 2-12 to 0-11. With Jack Robinson to the fore, Kildare staged a late rally and outscored their opponents by 0-7 to 0-1 in the last 10 minutes to reduce the deficit to the minimum.

But just when it seemed Kildare might get something out of it, they lost possession and O Coileain was fouled for O'Reilly to slot over the insurance point for Meath in the fifth minute of stoppage-time.

Meath - A McDermott; M Callaghan, M Flood, D Gibney; C McConnell, R Hand, J Cassidy (0-1); R Clarke, D Quinn (0-1); R O Coileain (1-2), F O'Reilly (0-5, 3f, 1'45), J Scully (0-2); O Meehan, K Ross (1-2, 0-1f), R Farrelly. Subs: D Finney for R Farrelly, S Coogan (0-1) for O Meehan, S Claire for K Ross, G Duane for D Gibney.

Kildare - T Kinsella; G Scanlon, C O'Shea, D Malone; O Dunne, M Grace (0-1), O Whelan; D Grehan (0-1), J Bambrick; E Lawless (0-1), S Hanafin, P Nash (0-4f); J Robinson (0-7), M Nolan, N Murphy. Subs: S O'Rourke (0-2) for M Nolan, J Doyle for N Murphy, C Jamieson for O Whelan, R Casey for O Dunne, M Grehan for S Hanafin, B Noone (0-2) for D Grehan.

Referee - C Dwyer.

Tweet

Most Read Stories