Meath slump at home to Tyrone

Meath's hope of maintaining their NFL Div 2 status suffered a setback in Navan today as they were outmuscled by a slick Tyrone side who secured promotion back to Div 1 with a 1-17 to 1-11 win.

Meath led early on when Mickey Newman's stunning goal boosted them to a 1-0 to 0-1 lead after just four minutes. However Tyrone rallied with Ronan O'Neill goal and a flurry of points which boosted them to a six-point lead in the run-in to half-time.

In the closing minutes of the half Meath tagged on scores from Cillian O'Sullivan and James McEntee to narrow the half-time deficit to 1-6 to 1-10.

After the resumption Meath hit three of the next four scores with Newman converting three frees to close the gap to 1-9 to 1-11 and with 14 minutes remaining the arrears remained at just two points.

However, in the closing quarter Tyrone upped the tempo and despite finishing the game with just 13 players after using all their substitutes before earning a black card and an injury they hit six of the last eight points to seal the win and secure promotion, while Meath remain outside the relegation zone on scoring difference ahead of Laois and Armagh.