Kerry 2-18

Meath 1-13

Sean O'Shea helped himself to 1-8 as Kerry sealed their place in the All-Ireland SFC semi-finals with an eight-point win over Meath in Navan this evening.

Just as they had done against Donegal and Mayo in their previous Super 8 outings, Meath put it up to their illustrious opponents for long stages, but faded in the final quarter as the Kingdom finished top of Group 1. A Brian Ó Beaglaoich  goal helped Peter Keane's men to a slender 1-10 to 1-9 interval lead, but with O'Shea to the fore, they outscored the home side by 1-8 to 0-3 in the second half to run out comfortable winners.

Kerry will face the losers of tomorrow's Group 2 clash between Tyrone and Dublin in the semi-final, and improvement will be needed if they're to clear that hurdle. For Meath, who were already out of the championship, 2019 has been a successful year with their two goals of gaining promotion to Division 1 of the Allianz League and reaching the Super 8s having been achieved.

David Moran and O'Shea scored two points each as Kerry settled quickest to lead by 0-4 to 0-1 after seven minutes. But Meath eventually found their feet and had tied up the scoring at 0-5 apiece by the 13th minute thanks to three-in-a-row from top-scorer Shane Walsh, Thomas O'Reilly and Darragh Campion.

Ó Beaglaoich then restored the Munster champions' lead with the opening goal after taking a return pass from Paul Geaney. But the Royals mustered a brilliant response when a Bryan McMahon points was followed by a Campion goal after he rounded Shane Ryan and finished to the net.

Kerry have beaten Meath in Navan! Check out the best of the action here! pic.twitter.com/xJBsmaeoTD

— The GAA (@officialgaa) August 3, 2019

Kerry grabbed the next three points, but only led by the mimimum at half-time. Walsh drew Meath level immediately after the restart, but the visitors never looked back after O'Shea sprinted away from Gavin McCoy before finishing past Meath 'keeper Marcus Brennan in the 42nd minute.

Walsh replied with a free and Meath were within three points entering the last 10 minutes. But Kerry registered six of the last seven points to seal the deal.

Kerry - S Ryan; J Foley, T Morley, T O'Sullivan (0-1); P Murphy, G Crowley, B O Beaglaoich (1-1); D Moran (0-2), A Spillane; G White, S O'Shea (1-8, 0-4f, 0-1'45), S O'Brien (0-1); M Burns, P Geaney (0-2), K Spillane (0-3). Subs: D Moynihan for M Burns, T Walsh for G Crowley, S Enright for G White (BC), J Sherwood for A Spillane, J Lyne for S O'Brien (BC), J Barry for K Spillane.

Meath - M Brennan; S Lavin, C McGill, S Gallagher; D Keogan, P Harnan, G McCoy; B Menton (0-1), S McEntee; E Devine (0-1), B McMahon (0-3), D Campion (1-1); C O'Sullivan, S Walsh (0-6, 3f), T O'Reilly (0-1). Subs: T McGovern for S McEntee, R Ryan for G McCoy, J Conlon for T O'Reilly, N Kane for T McGovern (BC), M Burke for E Devine, S Tobin for B McMahon.

Referee - F Kelly.

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