Meath u-17 hurlers lose to Offaly

Meath slumped to a crushing 38-point defeat tonight in the Leinster u-17 Hurling at Dunganny against a much stronger Offaly side that crusied to an effortless 6-25 to 0-5 victory.

The one-off competition compensates players who will not get to play minor next year as it will be discontinued at the u-18 grade this year and the new minor will be the u-17 grade from 2018 onwards. 

Meath hurlers were ranked as a third tier side and, unfortunately, received a walkover from Wicklow two weeks ago while Tier 2 side Offaly lost to Dublin and that earned them a trip to the Dunganny tonight.

Former Meath senior hurling manager Cillian Farrell was on the Offaly sideline as a selector and was probably a bit surprised by the ease at which his team progressed to the next round.

Meath displayed great battling qualities, but they were never in contention and trailed by 0-3 to 5-12 at the interval and had to wait until the 20th minute to split the posts when Nicholas Potterton converted a free.

Offaly - Stephen Loughnane; Aaron Flanagan, Conor Butler, Dara Maher; Sean Beattie, Barry Cleary, Kieran Connors; Rory Carty (0-2), Kevin McDermott (0-2); mRoss Ravenhill (0-1), Cathal Kiely (0-5 two frees), Brian Mullins (1-2); Brian Duignan (1-3), Tom Leahy (2-3), Cillian Simpson (1-3). Subs - Pat Gilligan (1-0) for Simpson 45 mins, Conor Kenny for Cleary and Morgan Watkins for Mullins both 48m, Daryl Gaughan (0-2) for Leahy 52m, Brian Fletcher (0-2) for Duigan 55m. 

Meath - Mark Hatton (Boardsmill); Jack Bannon (Kiltale), Evan Burke (Killyon), Aaron O'Flaherty (Ratoath); Kevin Coffey (Na Fianna), David McGowan (Ratoath), Simon Ennis (Rathmolyon); John Farrell (Clann na nGael), Kevin Lennon (Trim); Sean Johnson (Ratoath), Peter O'Doherty (Dunboyne), Vincent Ward (Rathmolyon 0-2); Nicholas Potterton (Kildalkey 0-3 two frees), Alex Dunne (Trim), Cian Rogers (Ratoath). Subs - Trevor Healy (Rathmolyon) for Coffey and Paul Briody (Drumree) for Dunne both 40 mins, Patrick Coyne (Killyon) for Lennon 45m, Martin Browne (Kildalkey) for Farrell 50m, Ross Kerrigan (Longwood) for Burke 55m.