Both teams fought tooth and nail  on Friday night in  a windy and rain swept Castletown to remain in Senior Championship for 2026.

    Meath Hill  wind assisted playing into Road end had a blistering start with 1—1 on score board in first two minutes. The open score in first minute was free from 20 metres. On winning the resulting  kick out a Hill forward gained possession and  sent a diagonal ball across the square that  was palmed ( Crouchy-like)  to the Simonstown net. The Sky blues settled  and  while  defences were on top in tricky conditions scores were hard to come by.  Simonstown goalkeeper  Ben Hoey converted  a free into wind and rain to open their account after thirteen minutes. Aaron Farrelly then got inside the Hill defence and with a glorious pick-up  without breaking stride fired over the bar  with eighteen minutes played. The Hill then converted a 2pt free from near the sideline on twenty five minutes  and a further free on the stroke of half time. The half time whistle had  Meath Hill leading by five  1—4 Simons 0--2.

 Simonstown with  Shane Barry and Sean Tobin  dominating midfield and with  half backs Aron Chinchilla,Mark Gardiner ,Briain Conlon mopping up breaks  and feeding  the forwards that led to  the Hill conceding  frees.Padraig McKeever landed a 2pointer free followed by O—1 free. McKeever then fired over a two pointer from play to draw level  0—7 to 1--4 after seven second half minutes.

  Ben Hoey landed a massive  two point free from near the  half way line to put Simons two up. Meath Hill replied with a point from play  0--9 to 1--5. Shane Barry evading three tacklers  and surged through the heart of Hill defence, laid off to Shane McEnery who calmy slotted home to put  the Navan men 1—9 to 1—5 in front at start of fourth quarter. A point from Meath Hill and another McKeever free left it 1—10 to 1—6  with ten to play. The Hill threw everything into attack and scored the last four points (2fs) to draw level at fulltime 1—10 each in a hectic finish.

  Extra time arrived and McKeever with a two pointer free put Sims ahead but the Hill fought back with two white flags (1f) to have teams level at the Extra time break  1—12 each.  In second half of extra time the teams  exchanged points through frees ( McKeever /Sims). Meath Hill went ahead from play and sub Jack Collier cleverly won possessing and headed for goal but was fouled and Ben Hoey converted into wind to leave it Simonstown 1—14 Meath Hill 1—14 at  final whistle in extra time. 
Congratulations to Jack Collier and Jamie Keane as they both were introduced to Senior Championship football

Now penalties were required to find a  result of match. 5 penalties each.

Ben Hoey, Padraig McKeever,Conor Sherdian,Aron Chinchilla,and  Eoghan Gough all blasted to the net for Simonstown. 

    The hero was Ben Hoey who saved Meath Hills second penalty. conor Simonstown won the penalty shoot out 5—4 and  retained their Senior Championship status for 2026.

       Well done and  grateful appreciation to Manager Joe Lyons,Coaches /Selectors Eanna Donoghue,Keith Brady, Barry Flanagan,Paul Meade. Also thanks to  Tommy  Caffrey and Jim McCabe for their help with team affairs  during the year.

   

***Simons; Ben Hoey...Mark Devlin, Michael Gavin,Shane Gallagher,...Aaron Chinchilla, Briain Conlon, Mark Gardiner....Shane Barry, Sean Tobin...Shane McEnery 1—0, Sean Conlon, Niall Kane...Padraig McKeever  Aaron Farrelly 0—1, Eoghan Gough...

***Subs***Conor Sherdian/ S.Conlon...45m ----Jimmy Heaney/S.McEnery..50m—-Jamie Keane/E.Gough..55m

***Subs Extra TIme;  Sean Conlon/S.Tobin...Eoghan Gough/M.Devlin...Jack Collier/ N.Kane

Credit: Jim McCabe (match report)