Meath hold on to book final spot

Meath survived the third quarter sending off of Barry Tormay to book their place in the O'Byrne Cup final following a narrow 0-11 to 0-10 victory over Louth in Drogheda today.

The Royals were 0-9 to 0-7 ahead when Tormay was dismissed following an off-the-ball clash with Jim McEneaney, but the hosts couldn't capitalise on their numerical supremacy as Meath defended stoutly to set up a final clash with Longford in Pairc Tailteann next weekend.

Louth started well and opened the scoring from a McEneaney free, but Meath eventually settled with Mickey Newman (two) and Sean Tobin boosting them to a 0-3 to 0-1 lead after 12 minutes.

McEneaney responded with a second free, but Meath were in command and opened up a 0-7 to 0-2 advantage with Cillian O'Sullivan, Graham Reilly, Cathal Finn and Newman (free) on target before McEneaney closed the first-half scoring with Louth's first point from play.

Conor Downey stretched Meath's lead to five minutes a minute after the resumption, but successive scores from Tommy Durnin (two), Adrian Reid and Declan Byrne closed the gap to the minimum again with 20 minutes remaining.

A Newman free restored a two-point cushion for Meath before Tormay was sent-off and a minute later Tobin converted a free to make it 0-10 to 0-7.

Louth hit back with scores from Derek Maguire and Byrne, but when Newman converted his fifth point, a third from a free, with four minutes remaining it left Louth chasing a goal which never came and despite James Califf's late point Meath held on to secure their final spot.