Updated: Wednesday, 20th January, 2010 4:53pm

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Meath open with a solid victory

by Fergal Lynch

Meath 2-13, Longford 0-13

St Colmcille's player Graham Reilly in action for Meath in the O'Byrne Cup against Longford at Ballymahon on Sunday.

There was a welcome return to winning ways for Meath on Sunday when they opened their 2010 campaign with an encouraging O'Byrne Cup victory over an understrength Longford side at Ballymahon.

While Meath were also without many regulars, the hosts were so severely hit by injuries and unavailability of players because of college commitments that they could only list two outfield substitutes.

So from that aspect, Sunday's victory, and more importantly the decent performance, should be taken into context, but for manager Eamonn O'Brien there was plenty to be encouraged about as many of the new faces did their prospects of a place on the panel for the NFL no harm.

Meath played into the teeth of a deceiving wind in the opening period and for long stages of the half they looked stretched as Longford defied their underdog status with a decent display and included many top drawer scores.

However, even against the wind it was clear that Meath were prepared to work hard throughout and while Longford were on top the visitors refused to give up and never allowed Glenn Ryan's side pull clear.

Once Longford were still within Meath's sights at half-time it was clear that O'Brien's charges were more than capable of overturning the 1-3 to 0-10 interval deficit, which they did in blistering fashion in the opening seven minutes of the second-half when they pulled 2-8 to 0-10 clear.

Of the newcomers, all did well with Summerhill pair Davy Dalton and Conor Gillespie as well as Oldcastle's Eoin Gilsenan excelling throughout.

Dalton revelled in being dragged further outfield by his direct opponent Declan Reilly and although Gillespie had a tough battle with Longford's Brian Kavanagh, who won an All-Ireland Club SFC medal with Kilmacud Crokes last March, the Summerhill man never gave up and was crucial in helping turn the tide in Meath's favour.

Most of Gilsenan's good work in the opening period was done tracking back and helping stem the Longford surges from defence, but after the break the Oldcastle player was a constant threat and deserved more than the single point he posted.

While all the new faces did well, it was the older heads that will also offer O'Brien plenty of encouragement so early in the year.

Joe Sheridan showed no ill effects of his club's Keegan Cup celebratory dinner dance the previous evening as he tormented the Longford defence. He was guilty of dropping a couple of efforts short of the target, but overall he was a superb nuisance.

Seamus Kenny was another who continued the fine form he showed last year with an enterprising display. He was at the centre of most of Meath's decent play and when the ball was moved forward Sheridan and Jamie Queeney were excellent.

Queeney is making giant leaps as an inter-county player and if he continues with the form he showed on Sunday he will be very difficult to dislodge from that full-forward role by the time championship-summer comes around.

It was a very solid and encouraging display from Meath with eight different scorers. They moved the ball quickly and with menace into the full-forward line especially in the second-half and with Graham Reilly, Cormac McGuinness and captain for the day Peadar Byrne also impressing, Meath were significantly superior than the six-point winning margin suggests.

The small crowd of less than 300 were treated to a decent game with plenty of quality scores, but the interpretation of the new hand pass rule and the over-fussy application of the rules by Westmeath official Sean Carroll produced a fractured game with far too many stoppages.

When Sheridan pointed Meath into the lead after just 18 seconds it was difficult to see how Longford could stay in touch, but the hosts used the wind well and with some undisciplined Meath defending they took a grip on proceedings.

After Kavanagh had levelled from a '45' Sheridan almost grabbed the opening goal, but his instinctive first-time effort from David Bray's centre was well saved by Longford goalkeeper Damien Sheridan.

An off-the-ball foul by Eoghan Harrington on the troublesome James Martin allowed the Dromard man restore Longford's lead after seven minutes. Queeney responded with an equaliser, but successive scores from Kevin Mulligan, Martin and another Kavanagh free gave Longford a 0-5 to 0-2 advantage.

Another speculative Bray centre was well fielded by Queeney and the Na Fianna man did brilliantly to find the net and restore parity.

Bernard McElvaney and McGuinness traded scores before a late burst from Longford yielded points from Kavanagh (free), Mulligan, Declan Reilly and David Morgan as Sheridan saw a point attempt rebound off the bar to ensure Longford held a four-point interval lead.

Longford must have drawn great confidence from their first-half display, but that pep in their step soon disappeared as Meath lorded the early exchanges of the second-half.

Points from Sheridan (two), Mark Ward, Byrne and Queeney were followed by a goal from Sheridan.

Frees from Kavanagh and Martin gave the hosts some hope as they closed the gap to 0-12 to 2-8, but that was their last score until substitute Ronan McGoldrick pointed with the final kick of the game.

Meath eased away again with points from Queeney, Gilsenan, Reilly, Kenny and Byrne to set up a quarter-final clash with Dublin at Parnell Park next Sunday.

Meath - D Lyons; D Dalton, J Macken, E Harrington; C McGuinness (0-1), B Regan; G Reilly (0-1); C Gillespie, M Ward (0-1); E Gilsenan (0-1), S Kenny (0-1), P Byrne (0-2); D Bray, J Queeney (1-3), J Sheridan (1-3). Subs - G O'Brien for Reilly 55 mins, C McGill for Harrington 61m, N Mooney for Ward 61m, S McKeigue for Sheridan 64m, O Lewis for Kenny 66m.

Longford - D Sheridan; S Mulligan, N Farrell, S Hannon; D Brady, J Nally, S Powell; M Brady, B Kavanagh (0-4, three frees, one '45'); B McElvaney (0-1), K Mulligan (0-3, one free), D Keenan; J Martin (0-2, one free), D Morgan (0-1), D Reilly (0-1). Subs - R McGoldrick (0-1) for M Brady 37 mins, E Williams for Powell 55m.

Referee - Sean Carroll (Westmeath).