Meath's dreams of All-Ireland u-17 glory dashed
Poor opening and closing 20-minute spells proved to be nervous Meath's undoing as their dream of a place in the All-Ireland u-17 FC final ended at the penultimate hurdle following a 0-10 to 1-14 loss to impressive Tyrone in Breffni Park tonight.
Trailing by 0-8 to 1-7 after 42 minutes Meath sensed they had ridden their luck and might have a chance, but the closing 18 minutes belonged to the Ulster champions as they outscored the young Royals by 0-7 to 0-2 with Meath goalkeeper Lee Browne making a couple of fine saves to keep the margin at seven at the end.
It was a disappointing end to what was an outstanding campaign for the young Royals, and the big Meath support in Cavan stood to applaud the team off following their brave effort.
Meath were a bag of nerves for the opening 25 minutes and that was reflected as Tyrone dominated with Darragh Canavan, son of Tyrone legend Peter, ran riot with his pace and skills causing plenty of problems.
It was Canavan who opened the scoring in the fifth minute from a tight angle and four minutes later Tyrone doubled their advantage when Cormac Donaghy converted a free after Conal Courtney picked up a yellow card for a foul on Daniel Miller.
More uncertainty in the Meath defence saw no one cut out Cormac Donnelly's centre and with Browne indecisive off his line Ethan Jordan nipped in to punch the ball over the goalkeeper's head to make it 1-2 to 0-0 after just nine minutes.
Meath couldn't catch a break in that spell, but they did get a stroke of luck in the 16th minute when Browne brilliantly deflected Donnelly's low drive onto the post and away to safety before the Royals countered with Jordan Morris opening their account with a fine point.
Tyrone continued to press and restored their five-point cushion with an easy point for Joe Oguz and when the Meath rearguard was marked absent again in the 19th minute Jordan added a point to make it 1-4 to 0-1.
Even a Shane Walsh free couldn't settle Meath nerves as they made mistake after mistake in handling and decision making. After Thomas Hoy replied with a point for Tyrone, a poor decision by Cian McBride to block Matthew Murnaghan's run off the ball earned the St Cuthbert's player a black card.
The intensity that was evident in the Leinster final win over Dublin, but was absent for the opening 25 minutes of this semi-final, rose in the closing stages of the half as a brilliant move involving Morris and Barry O'Connell was started and finished by Paddy Matthews to make it 0-3 to 1-5.
A Morris free cut the gap to four points and in the closing minutes of the half Hoy and Aaron Lynch, following a neat turn after brilliant work by Matthews and Walsh, traded scores to leave Meath trailing 0-5 to 1-6 at the break.
Tyrone's goal threat continued to be obvious after the break as Ruairi Slane fired a great chance wide, but points from Morris (free) and Walsh (free) either side of another score from Canavan closed the gap to 0-7 to 1-7.
When captain Liam Byrne struck a monstrous free from close to 60 metres over the bar to close the gap to two points, it should have provided the inspiration needed, but Tyrone settled again.
A Jordan free put three between the sides again and when Browne was forced to stop another Donnelly effort Meath were on the back foot again.
Murnaghan got a fist to a centre, but lobbed the ball over the advancing Browne to make it 1-9 to 0-8 and when Oguz and substitute Ryan McCabe added points in quick succession to make it 1-11 to 0-8 there was a sense that it wouldn't be Meath's night.
Sean Ryan galloped forward from full-back to embellish a fine display with a score, but McCabe countered with his second to keep Meath at arms length.
A Walsh free in the 59th minute was Meath's last score, but even then Tyrone were full of running as Browne had to tip Donnelly's stinging drive over the bar and Canavan added his third of the evening.
Tyrone also hit the post late on from a scrambled effort, but Meath couldn't create a goal chance and it wasn't to be their night.
Tyrone – Lorcan Quinn; Antoin Fox, Matthew McCusker, Conor Ward; Tarlach Quinn, Cormac Monroe, Ruairi Slane; Matthew Murnaghan (0-1), Joe Oguz (0-2); Cormac Donaghy (0-1 free), Darragh Canavan (0-3), Daniel Miller; Ethan Jordan (1-2 one free), Cormac Donnelly (0-1), Thomas Hoy (0-2). Subs – Cormac Quinn for Ward, Mark Hayes for Donaghy both half-time, Ryan McCabe (0-2) for Hoy 46 mins, Ronan Hollywood for Slane 53m, Liam Gray for Jordan 54m, Kevin Barker for McCusker 60m.
Meath - Lee Browne (St Colmcille's); Sean Bannon (Ballinabrackey), Sean Ryan (Dunboyne 0-1), Michael Gavin (Simonstown); Oran Smullan (Na Fianna), Liam Byrne (Dunboyne 0-1 free), Conal Courtney (Gaeil Colmcille); Colm Doherty (Skryne), Fergal Watters (Dunboyne); Cian McBride (St Cuthbert's), Shane Walsh (Na Fianna 0-3 frees), Patrick Matthews (Drumconrath/Meath Hill 0-1); Aaron Lynch (Trim 0-1), Jordan Morris (Nobber 0-3 two frees), Matthew Costello (Dunshaughlin). Subs - Dylan Keating (Seneschalstown) for Watters 35mins, Michael Murphy (Dunboyne) for Bannon 44m, Eoin Martin (Dunboyne) for Costello 46m, Adam Ryan (Simonstown) for Courtney 48m, Jack McMahon for Gavin 61m. Black card – C McBride (replaced by Barry O'Connell (Walterstown) 23m).
Referee – Barry Tiernan (Dublin).