Meath 2-18 London 1-15 By Cóilín Duffy 'Meath are back where they belong' - that summed up the feelings of Royals Senior Hurling manager TJ Reilly at the full-time whistle as Christy Ring status for 2010 was earned thanks to this six-point Nicky Rackard Cup final win at Croke Park. Meath led from start to finish in this game, despite a purple patch from the Exiles in the second half as they cut the gap to three points. But Meath's determination showed through at the finish as David Kirby and Neil Hackett (2) sealed the issue with late points to earn the Royals their first Nicky Rackard Cup success. Na Fianna clubman and defender David Kirby gave a man of the match display for Meath as the Royals shone for large stages of this game. Kirby scored two points from left-half-back as TJ Reilly's charges gave an outstanding performance throughout, with the Royals resilient in defence and potent in attack throughout. The Royals were clinical in the second half and just had two wides over the course of the closing 35 minutes. Indeed London were also deadly accurate in the second half with just one wide. However London made a rocky start to this game, with five first half wides and strong dependancy on full-forward and free-taker Martin Finn from placed balls. Meath held a 2-10 to 0-09 interval lead, thanks to goals from Nicky Horan and Michael Cole. Horan's 25th minute goal came following an initial effort by Joey Keena who had his shot blocked out by London goalkeeper Patrick Gannon, and the advancing Horan had no hesitation in crashing the ball to the net. Cole followed up soon after with excellent work in the midfield sector by James Boyle, who made a bursting run, before the inrushing Michael Cole controlled possession and sent the ball to the net from the edge of the parallelogram. London upped their game on the restart thanks to a Henry Vaughan 51st minute goal to leave the score-line at 2-15 to 1-11. However the Exiles were dealt a major blow with a feared cruciate ligament injury for top-midfielder Fergus McMahon, who was substituted in the final quarter. London may have cut the gap to three points during the second half, but with all six Meath starting forwards on target for scores, along with an exceptional display for Garvey the Royals weren't to be denied. Meath - S Quinn; C Burke, E Fitzgerald, M Foley; M Horan, P Fagan, D Kirby (0-2); J Boyle, P Garvey (0-2); P Durnin (0-1), N Hackett (0-6, 4f), M Cole (1-1); J Keena (0-2), N Horan (1-3), K Fagan (0-1). Subs: G O'Neill for Cole (55), R Masse for Durnin (69). London - P Gannon; S Fox, C Burke, E Phelan; K Forde (0-1), N Healy, K Kennedy; K Downes, F McMahon; M Mythen (0-3), C O'Dwyer (0-1), T Twomey; H Vaughan (1-0), M Finn (0-6), 3f), K McMullan (0-3). Subs: E Morrissey (0-1) for Forde (h-t), F Tierney for Twomey (51), N Coady for McMahon (60). Ref - O Elliot (Antrim) Tweet

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