Meath very much in promotion hunt

Meath gave their NFL Div 2 promotions prospects a significant boost with 3-15 to 0-6 drubbing of Fermanagh in Pairc Tailteann today.
Making three changes from the side that drew with Cork the previous week Meath manager Andy McEntee expected, and got, a rejuvenated display against a sorry Fermanagh side that struggled to cope with the host's intensity.
Meath now travel to Ennis next weekend knowing that a victory over Clare coupled with a Kildare win over Galway in Salthill would ensure promotion to the top flight for the first time in 16 years.
Playing into the teeth of a strong wind Meath squandered a couple of decent attacks beffore Fermanagh opened the scoring in the third minute when Sean Quigley converted a free after Eamon Wallace was harshly adjudged to have fouled Ryan Jones.
Ryan Lyons doubled that advantage a minute later and in the sixth minute Aidan Breen should have had a goal when put through by a long handpass, but he sidefooted his tame effort wide.
Meath were patient against the strong wind and that patience was rewarded in the ninth minute when Donal Lenihan and Padraic Harnan linked up to set up Graham Reilly for their opening score.
Two minutes later Harnan was dismissed for a black card offence that seemed cruel, but in the 15th minute Meath took a firm grip on proceedings when Cillian O'Sullivan was fouled inside the large square and Lenihan converted the penalty to make it 1-1 to 0-2.
Fermanagh were slow to use the wind effectively and their ponderous build up play allowed Meath shuffle plenty of players into defence and off that platfor the hosts countered well and stretched their lead to 1-3 to 0-2 with fine scores from Lenihan and Bryan Menton.
The second goal was simplistic in its excellence. A perfectly threaded through ball found McMahon out in front of Mickey Jones and the Ratoath turned on a tuppence before racing clear and burying the ball in the net.
A superb score from corner-back Kane Connor threatened to boost Fermanagh and when Donal Keogan threw away possession from a mark Sean Quigley converted a free from the subsequent indiscipline to narrow the deficit to 0-4 to 2-3.
Fermanagh then lost Jones to a very harsh black card and from the resultant free James Toher converted.
O'Sullivan squandered a great goal chance a minute later when he soloed the ball into Connor's hands when through, but in the closing minutes of the half Reilly, following a brilliant pass from O'Sullivan, and McMahon, after a great ball from Wallace, both pointed to give the Royals a 2-6 to 0-4 interval lead.
It didn't take Meath long to resume their dominance as Tobin lofted over a brilliant score and when O'Sullivan made it 2-8 to 0-4 three minutes later Fermanagh gave up the ghost.
McMahon's point was followed by Meath's third goal when Tobin showed tremendous bravery to punch Reilly's Garryowen to the net.
Lee Cullen ended Fermanagh's barren spell, but as both teams emptied their benches in the final quarter it was Meath who continued to dominate with James McEntee clipping over twice after coming on,.
McMahon, Tobin and two glorious efforts from O'Sullivan emphasised the hosts dominace as all Fermanagh could muster was a pointed free from Courtney.
Victory pushed Meath clear of relegation danger and still in with a shout of promotion.

Meath - Paddy O'Rourke; Donal Keogan, Conor McGill, Donnacha Tobin; Shane McEntee, Brian Power, Padraic Harnan; Bryan Menton (0-1), James Toher (0-1 free); Alan Forde, Graham Reilly (0-2), Eamon Wallace; Bryan McMahon (1-3), Sean Tobin (1-2), Donal Lenihan (1-1 1-0 penalty). Subs – Cillian O'Sullivan (0-3) for Forde 11 mins, James McEntee (0-2) for Reilly 51m, Cian O'Brien for Toher 55m, Alan Douglas for Power 61m, Joey Wallace for E Wallace 63m. Black card – P Harnan (replaced by Mickey Burke 11m).

Fermanagh - C Snow; M Jones, C Cullen, K Connor (0-1); C P Murphy, B Mulrone, A Breen; E Donnelly, L Cullen (0-1); P McCusker, R Jones, R Lyons (0-1); E Courtney (0-1 free), S Quigley (0-2 frees), J McMahon. Subs – D McCusker for Lyons 46 mins, P Reihill for Murphy, C Corrigan for P McCusker both 55m, T McCaffrey for Courtney 62m, D Teague for Quigley 65m. Black card – M Jones (replaced by T Daly 30m).

Referee - Derek O'Mahoney (Tipperary).