From the Meath Chronicle

Na Fianna 1-24

Blackhall Gaels 2-9

There wasn’t much of a reward on the line when Na Fianna met Blackhall Gaels in Kilmessan on Sunday afternoon. Both sides are bound for a quarter-final spot in the SBH championship. Even though the quality of hurling on display wasn’t fantastic, these two sides played out a feisty encounter with Na Fianna coming out well on top on the scoreboard.

Na Fianna racked up a comfortable lead in the opening quarter before Blackhall Gaels brought themselves back into the clash with a goal five minutes from halftime. After a sluggish third quarter, a Barry Slevin goal put Na Fianna beyond the reach of the Gaels. To their credit, Blackhall Gaels finished out the game well and didn’t make any real significant inroads into the lead that Na Fianna had built up.

Na Fianna got off to a flying start and points from Rory Fagan, Eoin Bright and Seanie Martin. Shane Whitty opened Blackhall Gael’s but Na Fianna were keen to build as much of an early lead as possible and by the time we reached the quarter-way mark, they had added six more points, three of which came from Seanie Martin.

Blackhall Gaels' first four scores in the contest came by way of their two midfielders and Whitty reduced the gap back to six points on the 20th-minute marker. Seanie Martin was causing Blackhall Gaels a lot of issues down the right-hand side and he added another before Ethan Devine increased the gap to eight.

A long ball in from Whitty dropped just short and Mark Mullalley got up high to bat the ball into the Na Fianna net. Na Fianna responded well though and secured three points on the trot through Devine, Slevin and Kean Flynn to give the Enfield-based outfit a nine-point lead at the break.

The third quarter is usually where you see a response from a halftime team talk, however, both sides seemed quite sluggish after the break and there was only two scores in the opening 10 minutes, one apiece for opposing corner forwards, Patrick Jordan and Conor Burke.

Two Fagan frees came either side of a Thomas Delaney point before Na Fianna put the game to bed on the 45th-minute marker with a fantastic individual goal courtesy of Barry Slevin. Slevin weaved in between the Blackhall defence before finishing brilliantly to the net to give Na Fianna a 13-point lead.

Over the next 10 minutes, the Batterstown side showed great character to outscore Na Fianna 1-3 to 0-2. It was a fruitful period for Dermot Carthy as he accounted for all of Blackhall Gaels' scores in that run.

Blackhall Gaels were reduced to 14 men when Ethan Devine was dismissed for a dangerous tackle on Luke Boggan. Boggan had only entered the field of play moments before the incident. Tempers were flaring high and a few moments later Na Fianna’s Kean Flynn was giving his marching orders too. Two points for Fagan concluded the fiery but sub-standard contest.

Na Fianna – Adam Farrell; Oisin Bright, Anthony Healy, Alan Lewis; Alex Healy, Peter Slevin, Evan Mulally; Eoin Bright (0-2), Kean Flynn (0-4); Barry Slevin (1-1), Ethan Devine (0-2), Rory Fagan (0-8, five frees); Michael Heffernan, Seanie Martin (0-5), Patrick Jordan (0-2). Subs – Johnny McCluskey for Martin 46m, Luke Boggan for Heffernan 54m, Eoin Coffey for Healy 61m, Stephen Slevin for Jordan 63m.

Blackhall Gaels- David Farrell; Hugh Smith, David McGowan, Colm Fitzgerald; Tom Murphy, Conor Delaney, Colm Whitty; Stephen Morris (0-1), Shane Whitty (0-3, three frees); Thomas Delaney (0-1), Mark Nicholson, Luke Jennings; Dermot Carthy (1-3, three frees), Mark Mullalley (1-0), Conor Burke (0-1). Subs – Darren Maguire for Whitty halftime, Jack Gallagher for Mullalley 53m, Ciaran Devaney for Jennings 59m.

Referee – Ciaran Flynn (Kilmessan