Naas (Kildare) 2-12 Summerhill (Meath) 0-08
Three-in-a-row Kildare SFC champions Naas brought all their big game experience to bear as they finished strongly on home soil to comfortably secure an AIB Leinster club semi-final spot.
Joe Murphy's side toyed with a solid Summerhill for three quarters of the contest at Kildare's training centre in Hawkfield before eventually pulling clear to win by a slightly flattering 10-point margin.
Eoghan Prizeman's 51st minute goal broke the back of Summerhill's challenge and Naas went on to hit 1-05 without response in the closing 10 minutes or so.
Veteran Eamonn Callaghan, who turns 41 this month, came on and scored two points during the late blitz while county attacker Darragh Kirwan notched his third point of the game too.
Meath teams have a poor record in this competition and this is the 20th defeat out of 33 games since Dunshaughlin won the Leinster title in 2002.
Summerhill hung tough to beat Tullamore with a late scoring siege in Round 1 and it appeared they might pull off a similar smash and grab raid this time as they whittled down a five-point half-time deficit to just two after 49 minutes, 1-07 to 0-08.
Conor Gillespie's side got some joy from pressing up on the Naas kick-out with free-taker Eoghan Frayne, part of Meath's Tailteann Cup winning panel, shooting 0-06 on the day for them.
Former county midfielder Adam Flanagan impressed at midfield too but just when it appeared that Summerhill might steal a result they were suckered by a Kirwan point and then that Prizeman goal.
In the end, Summer's 49th minute point from Barry Dardis proved to be their final score of the game as Naas took over.
The 2021 Leinster finalists will take on St Loman's of Mullingar in the provincial semi-finals in a fortnight.
Summerhill will kick themselves for the 12 wides they blasted with nine of those coming in the first-half.
They got off to a poor start when the hosts registered 1-02 without response, Sean Hanafin nailing their eighth minute goal after a long delivery towards Dermot Hanafin broke kindly.
Kirwan, dual player James Burke and the excellent Alex Beirne all tagged on points for Naas who hit the interval with a 1-05 to 0-03 lead.
Conor Frayne's 29th minute point for Summerhill was their only one from play in the half.
They were better after the break and outscored Naas by 0-05 to 0-02 between the restart and the 49th minute.
Eoghan Frayne was their main man with three converted frees and a beauty from play from out on the left wing off his left foot.
They couldn't push on though and, truth be told, Naas were unfortunate not to have scored more goals earlier with Kirwan twice thwarted in the first-half.
And when Prizeman blasted to the net from the left of goals for Naas it effectively killed the contest.
Beirne probably should have struck their third goal soon after when Naas turned the ball over and broke sharply but he opted for a point.
Naas: Luke Mullins (0-01, 0-01f); Cathal Daly, Conor McCarthy, Mark Maguire; Brian Byrne; Eoghan Prizeman (1-00), Eoin Doyle, Paddy McDermott; Paul McDermott, James Burke (0-01); Alex Beirne (0-03), Darragh Kirwan (0-03, 0-01f), Jack McKevitt (0-01); Dermot Hanafin, Sean Hanafin (1-00).
Subs: Eamonn Callaghan (0-02, 0-02f) for Dermot Hanafin 42, Tom Browne for McKevitt 42, Neil Aherne for Paul McDermott 55, Kevin Cummins (0-01, 0-01f) for Kirwan 59.
Summerhill: Sean Muddiman; Iarla Hughes, Padraig Jennings, John Lavelle; Adam McDonnell, Ross Ryan, Padhraig Geraghty; Adam Flanagan, Micheal Byrne; David Larkin, Diarmuid McCabe, Conor Lyons; Eoghan Frayne (0-06, 0-05f), Conor Frayne (0-01), Barry Dardis (0-01).
Subs: Kevin Ryan for Lyons 41, David Dalton for Conor Frayne 55, Jamie O'Shea for McDonnell 58, Ben Moran for Jennings 61.
Referee: Alan Coyne (Westmeath).
