Meath 0-18
DCU 1-14

Peter Durnin's late score saw Meath edge out DCU by a point in this Kehoe Cup fixture at Ashbourne on Sunday.

Meath trailed the north Dublin college side by five points at one stage in the second-half but a final quarter push saw them steal past their strong opponents.

Moment before Durnin's match-wining score, Dave Kirby - who moved to full-forward for the final minutes - levelled matters and the scores were tied for the sixth time.

Then came Durnin's third point from play to earn Meath a semi-final meeting with Kildare. Joey Keena was Meath best performing attacker over the hour and put four points to his name.

Meath might have won by a wider margin but for hitting 21 wides - 13 in the second-half - to DCU's three.

A scoring burst either side of half-time seemed to give the students - who defeated Fingal in the opening round four days earlier - the edge.

However they were unable to maintain the momentum gained by Phillp Murphy's 40th minute goal left them five points to the good, 1-10 to 0-8.

Goalkeeper Stephen Quinn came to Meath's rescue when saving from Joe Cullen midway through the second-half.

Stephen Clynch gave Meath a firm foothold at midfield in the final quarter but despite a succession of wides, the home side's resilience was rewarded.

By the 63rd minute, when Hackett landed his seventh free of the game the sides were level fifth and penultimate time.

Substitute Emmet McCabe put DCU back in front before those last brace of points saw Meath through to the last four.

Despite playing against the wind and sun, Meath had the better start with Keena pointing them in front.

Offaly's Colm Coughlan kept the students in contention and with his third score of the game DCU first hit the front with just over 20 minutes gone.

A Joe Cullen point was the pick of the scores as the students finished the half strongly to lead by 0-9 to 0-6 at the break.

Meath - S. Quinn; B. Coughlan, E. Fitzgerald, S. Donoghue; M. Horan, P. Fagan, D. Kirby (0-2); J. Boyle, S. Clynch; P. Durnin (0-3), N. Hackett (0-8, 7 fs), B. Murray; M. Kelly, N. Horan, J. Keena (0-4). Subs - P. Garvey for Murray (ht), D. Muldoon (0-1) for Kelly (43), M. Lynch for N. Horan (67).

DCU - B. McCormack; Q. Lynch, P. Rowesome, T. Clince; A. Griffith, B. Flaherty, D. Horan (0-1); G. Farrell, C. Coughlan (0-5, 4 fs); T. O hUallachain, A. Creane, E. Kent (0-2); J. Mulrooney (0-2), J. Cullen (0-2), P. Murphy (1-1). Subs - E. McCabe (0-1) for O hUallachain (ht), E. O'Mahony for Creane (46)

Referee - C. Groome (Offaly) Tweet

Most Read Stories