Discipline a major issue

Following the Meath senior football team can lead to early baldness, chewed finger nails and some mild heart palpitations and Saturday night"s NFL Div 2 encounter produced enough excitement, frustration and drama to inflict all three symptoms. After a night of high tension, but poor quality, Meath are still searching for their first NFL Div 2 point of 2009 after Fermanagh smashed, grabbed and left with a brace in their pockets after a dire contest. If manager Eamonn O"Brien wants to see improvement in his side then he got just that at Pairc Tailteann on Saturday night, but if the rate of improvement is going to be this slow then the new coach will have a relegation battle on his hands that will leave supporters pulling their hair out. Meath were marginally better than they were in Cork in the opening round, but that"s not saying much. The intensity of their play and purpose in their attacks were more frequent, but against the Ulster men all discipline went out the window. Four Meath men were given their marching orders for yellow card offences and a couple of those were lucky not to get straight reds for off-the-ball incidents. Such disruptions to the game did Meath no favours, especially in the second-half when they had all the momentum and looked more than capable of snatching victory. Defeat was harsh on Meath because they were marginally the better team, but Fermanagh were no great shakes. Despite playing well below par Meath were still very much in contention as half-time approached. Fermanagh missed several decent opportunities, but some enterprising play from Stephen Bray, Cian Ward and Caoimhin King ensured Meath were on terms, 0-4 each. Then calamity and indiscipline set in. The bounce of the ball deceived Anthony Moyles and allowed Eamonn Maguire gain possession. He picked out an unmarked James Sherry who, despite being closed down by David Gallagher and Chris O"Connor, tucked the ball to the net, off the post. Worse was to come 90 seconds later when Damien Kelly was at the end of an excellent Fermanagh move and was fouled by Gallagher. The Dunboyne man marked his return between the posts after a three-year absence with a yellow card. With no substitute allowed until the next break in play Damien Sheridan went in goals to face Daniel Killie"s penalty. The Seneschalstown midfielder almost saved the effort, but the shot sneaked in and Meath were left trailing by 0-4 to 2-4 at half-time. It was a disappointing end to an error-strewn first-half. Passes again went astray, wrong options were taken, players were slow to the breaks and the isolation of King and Ward in the full-forward line reaped no reward in the opening quarter. Meath were poor all over the field. The normally immaculate Eoghan Harrington had a torrid evening, but he wasn"t alone. Most of the defence struggled and the midfield pairing of Brian Meade and Sheridan made little impact. It may be harsh to be critical because nobody can be faulted for effort. Meath battled for every ball, maybe over-enthusiastically at times, and refused to give up the fight. That spirit was epitomised in a vastly improved second-half. The major reason for Meath"s improvement was the half-time introduction of Nigel Crawford. The Dunboyne man was sublime and without his contribution the margin of defeat would have been considerably greater. Crawford brought poise, hunger, passion and the most vital ingredient of all, experience, to a laboured midfield. He inspired many around him, unfortunately he still ended up on the losing side. One of those boosted by Crawford"s arrival was David Bray. The Navan O"Mahonys youngster was excellent after the resumption and caused Fermanagh many problems, but Meath failed to take full advantage. Ten wides indicates accuracy problems, but of greater concern was that on many occasions the responsibility to shoot was shifted onto half-backs or midfielders. More of the forwards needed to take control and take risks. Meath rarely looked like creating a goal. David Bray saw a great goal chance sail wide nine minutes into the second-half, but that was as close as Meath came to troubling Ronan Gallagher. That"s two games gone and still no goals, in fact there have only been two decent goals opportunities in over 140 minutes of NFL action and neither were taken. Maybe it"s a confidence issue because the Meath forwards are good enough, but lack a decisive instinct. An indication of how poor Fermanagh were is that they managed just three second-half points, two from play. However, they held on and that is all they will care about. Meath started the second-half on the front foot. David Bray instantly started to create problems and Ward converted a free inside two minutes after the O"Mahonys man was fouled by Shane O"Brien, Fermanagh"s best player. After already losing Gallagher to a yellow card, Meath were forced into a re-shuffle when Moyles was dismissed following an off-the-ball incident with Enda Ferris while Cormac McGill was being black-booked for a foul on Marty McGrath. Niall McKeigue replaced Moyles, but it was the influence of Crawford that started to tell. He did brilliantly to punch over King"s clever centre and before the end of the third-quarter Jamie Queeney reduced the arrears, 0-7 to 2-4. David Bray displayed great strength and composure to narrow the deficit to two points, but O"Brien settled Fermanagh with a fine score and then pointed a free after McGill was yellow-carded for a foul on Maguire. David Bray and Ward both converted frees either side of an easy Rory Foy point to set up a tense final five minutes, plus injury-time. Brian Farrell broke possession for Crawford to add his second point and a superb nine-pass move ended with Stephen Bray reducing the gap to the minimum. When four minutes of injury-time were announced the vociferous Meath supporters grew louder. However, Queeney blazed a half-chance wide before Graham Reilly was yellow-carded and with all their substitutes used Meath had to finish with 14 men and no points to show for their efforts. SCORERS Fermanagh - E Ferris 0-1; E Maguire 0-1; E Ferris 0-1, one free; S O"Brien 0-3, two frees; J Sherry 1-0; D Killie 1-0, penalty; R Foy 0-1. Meath - D Bray 0-3, two frees; S Bray 0-2; C Ward 0-3, two frees; C King 0-1; N Crawford 0-2; J Queeney 0-1; THE TEAMS Fermanagh - Ronan Gallagher; Shane Goan, Shane Lyons, Hugh Brady; Tommy McElroy, Peter Sherry, Damien Kelly; Marty McGrath, James Sherry; Ciaran McElroy, Ryan Keenan, Shane O"Brien; Eamonn Maguire, Seamus Ryder, Enda Ferris. Subs - Daniel Killie for Ryder 31 mins, Rory Foy for Kelly half-time, Michael Jones for Brady 53m (yellow card), Daryl Keenan for Ferris 57m, Shane McDermott for Goan 60m (yellow card), Ryan Carson for Sherry. Meath - David Gallagher; Cormac McGill, Anthony Moyles, Eoghan Harrington; Cormac McGuinness, Barry Regan, Derek Flood; Brian Meade, Damien Sheridan; David Bray, Jamie Queeney, Chris O"Connor; Stephen Bray, Caoimhin King, Cian Ward. Subs - Paddy O"Rourke for Gallagher 35+2 mins (yellow card), Nigel Crawford for Sheridan half-time, Niall McKeigue for Moyles 42m (yellow card), Graham Reilly for O"Connor 55m, Brian Farrell for McGill 59m (yellow card), Eoin Reilly for Meade 67m, G Reilly not replaced 70+1m (yellow card). REFEREE Padraig Hughes (Armagh).