Meath advance to O'Byrne Cup semi-final
By virtue of their 2-16 to 0-14 win over Laois at Pairc Tailteann today Meath advanced to the O'Byrne Cup semi-finals where they will face Louth next Sunday.
Needing a victory over their Laois visitors and a favourable outcome from the UCD v Carlow game, Meath looked set to be dumped out of the competition when they led by just a point with two minutes remaining.
However late goals from Mickey Newman and Graham Reilly rescued the Royals from the potential of an early exit and instead sent Laois packing.
Meath's eight point winning margin meant that UCD had to defeat Carlow by at least 17 points and with the students only managing a nine-point victory in the south-east it was Mick O'Dowd's Royals who march on to the last four.
Despite playing into a strong wind in the opening half Meath started well with Cillian O'Sullivan tapping over from close range before Donal Lenihan doubled that advantage in the sixth minute.
Laois eventually started to make their wind advantage tell when Evan Costello opened their account before a brace of Donie Kingston frees edged them into a 0-3 to 0-2 lead.
O'Sullivan restored parity for the second time, but Laois continued to be more economical with Nigel Murphy and Kingston pushing them 0-5 to 0-3 ahead by the end of the opening quarter.
An eight minute purple patch put Meath in the driving seat as two points from Graham Reilly and one each for Sean Tobin (free) and Harry Rooney gave the hosts a 0-7 to 0-5 lead.
However, it was Laois who finished the half stronger. Paul Cahillane pointed after Paddy O'Rourke had denied Gary Walsh a goal and further points from Walsh, Gareth Dillon and Kingston (free) gave the O'Moore County side a 0-9 to 0-7 half-time lead.
That two-point deficit was turned into a three point lead within 10 minutes of the restart as Sean Tobin (two), Alan Douglas, Graham Reilly and Donal Lenihan all lofted over. Laois replied by restoring parity yet again by the three-quarters stage with Kingston (two) and Cahillane on target.
Tobin (two) and Reilly put Meath back int he driving seat with a 0-15 to 0-12 lead with nine minutes remaining, but their place in the semi-final was in jeopardy as two more Kingston frees narrowed the deficit to the minimum.
However, Meath finished with a flurry. Newman powered a 13-metre free to the net and after Donal Keogan tagged on a pointy Reilly made sure of Meath's passage with the second goal.