Jamie Murphy scored seven points for Meath in their Dalata Hotel Group Leinster U20 Football semi-final victory over Kildare.
Dalata Hotel Group Leinster U-20 football championship semi-final report
MEATH 0-19 KILDARE 1-8
By Paul Keane at Donaghmore/Ashbourne GAA club
High winds and heavy rain threatened to ruin this Dalata Hotel Group Leinster U-20 FC semi-final encounter but holders Meath rose above the atrocious conditions to score a significant win.
Free-taker Rian Stafford and powerful full-forward Jamie Murphy shared 0-15 between them, 0-8 and 0-7 respectively, as Cathal O Bric's side set up a provincial final rematch with Louth.
Meath beat the Wee County in last year's Leinster final and will face their neighbours all over again next Wednesday night.
They will look to Stafford and Murphy to deliver again, as well as the likes of Eamonn Armstrong who gave another exhibition of middle third play.
Kildare's season is over despite approaching this semi-final on a high after topping their group and qualifying directly for the last four.
They raised a gallop early on and opened up a five-point lead but those scores came against the run of play as Meath largely dominated the possession, bringing their greater physicality and experience to bear in Ashbourne.
Many of these Meath players operated at the minor level three seasons ago, losing to Kildare at that grade and finishing bottom of their provincial group.
The young Royals have come a long way in the meantime with a number of them featuring in last year's Leinster U-20 triumph.
Murphy is among that crew of 2022 minors who triumphed at the U-20 grade last year and the St Pat's, Stamullen man proved a handful again.
He scored one of Meath's five first-half two pointers as they capitalised on the diagonal wind which largely favoured them.
The hosts won the toss and opted to play with the wind so were always likely to push hard for two-pointers.
It took a while for them to come though and despite dominating possession in the opening quarter, Meath somehow hit the 14-minute mark trailing by 0-0 to 1-2.
Jay O'Brien sniped a terrific ninth minute goal for Kildare against the run of play, bursting through from the left and arrowing a left-footed kick to the far corner.
Ben Loakman and Eoin Cully added points as the Lilywhites grabbed a vital foothold in the game.
Meath, in comparison, had been racking up the wides and butchered a couple of decent goal chances after opening up the Kildare defence.
But when Murphy nailed their first two-pointer, from a free he won himself, it opened the floodgates with John Harkin and free-taker Stafford, 3, following suit with similar long-range scores.
Suddenly Meath were putting daylight between themselves and the visitors and led by 0-13 to 1-5 at half-time.
The diagonal wind favoured Kildare in the second-half but they couldn't take advantage and the turning point arrived in the 46th minute.
Cully burst through and a Kildare goal at that stage would have cut the gap in half, from six points to three, but Sam Jordan got back to intercept.
Kildare fans pleaded for a penalty but Meath took full advantage, reeling off three scores in a row from Murphy after that in the closing quarter to seal it.
Meath scorers: Rian Stafford 0-8 (2 x 2ptf, 1 2pt, 2f), Jamie Murphy 0-7 (2 x 2ptf, 1f), John Harkin 0-2 (2pt), Ben Corkery 0-1, Liam Jennings 0-1.
Kildare scorers: Jay O'Brien 1-0, Joey Cunningham 0-2 (2pt), Eoin Cully 0-2, Fintan Quinn 0-2 (0-1m), James Harris 0-1, Ben Loakman 0-1.
MEATH: Matthew Kealy; Sam Jordan, Rian Early, Ciaran O'Hare; Finn White, Fiach Hartigan, Eamonn Armstrong; Michael McIvor, John Harkin; Tadhg Martyn, Rian Stafford, Zach Thornton; Ben Corkery, Jamie Murphy, Liam Jennings. Subs: John Gormley for White 50, Conor O'Brien for Thornton 50, Sean Betson for Corkery 60, Pat Crawley for Jennings 63.
KILDARE: Charlie Carroll; Niall Cramer, Padraic Spillane, Liam Kelly; Colm Moran, James Harris, Cathal White; Senan Murphy, Ross Harris; Ryan Sinkey, Ben Loakman, Killian Browne; Jay O'Brien, Fintan Quinn, Eoin Cully. Subs: Joey Cunningham for Browne 41, Ben Ryan for Ross Harris 44, Austin Donegan for Senan Murphy 53, Jimmy Lynch for O'Brien 53.
Referee: Anthony Nolan (Wicklow).
