A great day to be a Meath supporter
September 02, 2015
Meath's top scorer Ollie Murphy gains possession during the 2001 All Ireland SFC semi final against Kerry. INPHO
It's not that often we were able to sing and dance about a victory over Kerry in senior football, more often than not we were on the receiving end of a beating from those great Kingdom men.
Roll back to 2001 and on this day, September 2nd, Sean Boylan's Meath literally beat Kerry out the Hogan Stand gates in the All-Ireland SFC semi-final.
The Royals completely outclassed the Munster champions. Kerry had just retain their provincial title with ease and were hotly-fancied to retain their All-Ireland crown.
But events didn't transpire along those lines. In what was one of the most extraordinary semi-finals in championship history, Meath totally dismantled the All-Ireland champions to win at a canter by 15 points. The Royals could have won it by more as Kerry fell out of the game at a very early stage.
Meath great Graham Geraghty tussles with present day Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice
Kerry went through a 29 minute spell in the first-half without scoring and could only muster a single point in the second half.
John McDermott got the opening goal just before half-time and Meath led at the break 1-6 to 0-4. Meath hit seven unanswered points in the opening 15 minutes of the second half as Kerry were left stunned. John Cullinane got Meath's second goal to complete the rout.
Final score Meath 2-14 Kerry 0-5
Meath scorers: Ollie Murphy 0-4, Ray Magee 0-3, John McDermott and John Cullinane 1-0 each, Evan Kelly 0-2, Nigel Nestor, Hank Traynor, Trevor Giles, Richie Kealy and Graham Geraghty 0-1 each.
Meath: Cormac Sullivan, Mark O'Reilly, Darren Fay, Cormac Murphy, Donal Curtis, Hank Traynor, Nigel Nestor, Nigel Crawford, John McDermott, Evan kelly, Richie Kealy, Trevor Giles, Ollie Murphy, Graham Geraghty, Ray Magee.
Subs: John Cullinane, Paddy Reynolds, Mick O'Dowd, Jody Devine.
