There is a general theory in sport that when champions return to defend their crown the opponents they face will be induced into giving an added dollop of effort to try and remove them from their lofty perch. The Meath juniors were the latest victims of this conjecture as Kit Henry's charges were relieved of their Leinster crown by Wexford, who showed the greater resolution during extra-time in a thrilling provincial semi-final encounter at Pairc Tailteann in June. Henry took over the reigns from Dessie Hamilton, who enjoyed a fruitful period at the helm, helping Meath to land back-to-back Leinster titles but the Boardsmill clubman chose to step down from his position after an All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Kerry last July. However, the procedure in finding a replacement took ten months, giving Henry little time to try and gel together a side capable of continuing Meath's domination of the province and the knock-on effect was a premature exit from the competition at the hands of the Model County. With the team made up of players who didn't feature at senior level in the county in 2006, the Dunshaughlin duo of Richie Kealy and Trevor Dowd as well as Duleek's Tony Cunningham were notable absentees from the previous years panel and their experience was a huge loss. Henry's troops began their repeat bid for Leinster JFC honours with a trip to Newbridge to face a fancied Kildare outfit and after a ding dong battle from start to finish, the side in green and gold managed to carve out a two-point victory, with the board reading 2-13 to 1-14 after extra-time. One of the main contributors to the success was John L. McGee as the Carnaross talisman accumulated a personal tally of 1-8 during the 80 minutes action and although only two of those scores came from open play, his accuracy from placed balls kept frustrating the Lilywhites who were never able to pull away from the visitors. Kildare were the better side in the opening period and they must have been wondering how they found themselves in arrears at the break but a converted McGee penalty on the stroke of half time saw Meath somehow establish a 1-5 to 1-3 interval lead. After a bright opening, Kildare struck an early blow in the 11th minute when full-forward Joe Kavanagh snuck in behind the Meath defence before unleashing an unstoppable shot to the net, which saw the hosts poke their snouts in front for the first time 1-1 to 0-1. Meath, understandably considering it was their first occasion to play together, took time to warm to the task and it took them ten minutes to get off the mark through a well-taken McGee point. Kildare shot out of the blocks on the restart and Kavanagh and Neil Browne both added to their tallies but it looked to be game, set and match to the Royal County when Jamie Queeney found the net midway through the second period. A flowing move involving Michael Burke, McGee and Peter Clinton saw the latter send a shot goalwards from 14 metres but the St Michael's clubman's effort was blocked and the rebound fell to Queeney who dispatched a rasping drive to the net to hand Meath a four point advantage. But the hosts showed their fighting spirit by sending over five points in succession to almost snatch the spoils but a late, late point from the boot of Ger McCullagh ensured that additional periods were necessary with the sides deadlocked, 2-9 to 1-12 at the final whistle. Kildare began to lose their discipline in extra-time and Colum Fagan and Rob McCabe were both dismissed during those periods. Meath were able to gain the upper hand as a result and outscored their opponents 0-4 to 0-2 in the twenty minutes play to advance to a meeting with Wexford. The 'semi' clash with the Model County followed a similar script to Meath's opener with Kildare but on this occasion Henry's charges were unable to concoct a winning formula in extra-time and lost out, 2-14 to 2-9. The throw-in was delayed for a quarter of an hour due to Wexford encountering traffic problems en-route to Pairc Tailteann and they felt the ill effects of their late arrival as the hosts race into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead after nine minutes. McGee accounted for two of those scores but he was unable to donate a similar performance as the Kildare game and there were a number of other players who fell into this category as David Donegan, Brian Meade and Queeney were the only ones who may have impressed Colm Coyle in the stands. Despite taking a little while to get into the game, Wexford enjoyed a lucrative second quarter in which they managed to cut back the early deficit and go in at the break on level terms, 1-4 apiece. Indeed, Meath were slightly fortunate to find themselves in such a situation as Brian Meade's goal which arrived in the 31st minute came from a point attempt that dropped under the Wexford crossbar. Darren Foran and Paddy Synott propelled Wexford into the box seat after the resumption with some fine point taking and the visitors looked likely to land the spoils entering the closing stages as they led 1-9 to 1-7 but a well dispatched T.J Garry penalty inched Meath in front before Synott levelled matters to send the outing into extra-time. Unlike in their previous outing with Kildare, Meath were unable to last the pace and it was Wexford who sprinted to the winning post with a late Paddy Byrne goal increasing the margin of victory to five points at the final whistle. It was a disappointing exit to a campaign which usually brings some type of silverware back to the Royal County but Stephen Bray and Brian Farrell are just two names to have used the junior grade as a stepping stone to brighter futures and Chris O'Connor, David Donegan and Jamie Queeney could follow in their footsteps. The Meath team that were beaten by Wexford in the semi-final of the Leinster JFC was as follows: S. Geraghty; C. O'Connor (0-1), P. Nugent, D. Donegan; P. Clinton (0-1), A. Farrell, G. Hynes; J.B. O'Reilly (0-1), B. Meade (1-0); G. McCullagh, W. Reilly, M. Burke (0-1); J. Finnerty, J. Queeney (0-1), J.L. McGee (0-4). Subs - P. Collier for Nugent, A. Hickey for O'Reilly, T.J. Garry (1-0) for McCullagh, T. Skelly for Finnerty, S. Duffy for Skelly, J.B. O'Reilly for Hickey, G. McCullagh for Reilly. Tweet

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