Late blitz secures semi-final place

They may have needed two bites of the cherry, but Meath emphatically booked their place in the last four of Ladies NFL Div 2 with an impressive victory over Down at Pairc Tailteann on Sunday. Meath had a chance to secure their semi-final spot a week earlier but lost out to Donegal. However, the second Ulster visitors in seven days didn't provide enough of an obstacle to prevent the improving Meath side from marching on. Meath shouldn't get too carried away with their victory over a side that was already relegated and had failed to muster a win in any of their previous six games. In fact 10 minutes into the second-half Down led by a point and with the outstanding Kyla Trainor having a major influence on the contest they looked capable of shocking their Royal hosts. However, once Meath settled they looked very composed. At times they threw the ball around with fine abandon, but there were also occasions when they were careless in their application, perhaps even taking their opponents for granted. Against Donegal Meath were missing the precocious talents of St Ultan's Elaine Duffy, but the star attacker returned for Sunday's contest and had a major influence finishing with 1-7 to her credit, including four frees. The placing of regular midfielder Mary Sheridan at full-forward also had a positive impact as she provided a superb focal point up front and was involved in most of the good things Meath did. Shauna Bennett, Jenny Rispin, Aedin Murray, Ciara Dempsey and Philomena Sheridan also had plenty of influence on the positive Meath outcome, but it could have been different had Down shown more composure and utilised Trainor more. Meath had started like they were going to run away with the game. However, as the first-half wore on Down settled, used the wind to their advantage and could have been even closer than just three points adrift at the break. The Ulster girls kicked six wides from decent positions, but Meath can also have claims to have been further ahead at the break as they struck the woodwork once and blasted efforts straight at Kerry Ann Magee. After watching Down kick the first wide of the game, Meath settled when good play between Duffy and Mary Sheridan set up Shauna Bennett to fire over from close range. It was a decent goal chance that yielded just a point. That goal did come a minute later when Mary Sheridan dispossessed Niamh McGowan, drew the attention of Emma Mulhern before offloading to Duffy who finished with ease. Bridgetta Lynch tagged on another point as Down were stunned and trailed by 0-0 to 1-2 after just four minutes. However, inspired by the outstanding Trainor the Mourne county girls rallied. Irene Munnelly did well to narrow the angle and force Kate McKay to take her point. Roisin Nulty followed that by shooting at Magee before Duffy restored Meath's five-point lead with a pointed free. Trainor, McKay and Lisa Morgan closed the gap to two points, but another Meath burst yielded a Duffy point and a fine goal for Mary Sheridan to open the lead up to 2-4 to 0-4. However, back came Down again. Trainor showed her class with 1-2 in three minutes, but points from Duffy (two frees) and Mary Sheridan pushed Meath clear again before Trainor closed the opening half scoring with a point to leave Meath's interval lead at 2-7 to 1-7. After the break Meath struggled to take a firm grip on proceedings. Tara Ryan did stretch the hosts advantage to four points within a minute of the resumption, but points from McKay and Morgan closed the deficit to two. It had looked like turning into a nightmare for Meath when Trainor was on the end of a brilliant move to finish beyond Irene Munnelly. However, instead of capitulating and succumbing to their nightmare, Meath woke up in great style with Mary Sheridan and Duffy excelling. Mary Sheridan, Bennett and a Rispin free edged Meath back ahead, 2-11 to 2-9. With 11 minutes remaining the game was put beyond doubt when Mary Sheridan brilliantly gathered Ashley Leavy's centre and finished superbly to the net. That score deflated Down and in the final 10 minutes Meath romped across the finish line with closing points from Duffy (three), Bennett and Orla Sheridan to book the semi-final spot against Donegal. Meath - I Munnelly; C Coffey, P Sheridan, M Kealy; C Dempsey, A Murray, R Considine; E Wardick, J Rispin (0-1, free); S Byrne, S Bennett (0-3), R Nulty; E Duffy (1-7, four frees), M Sheridan (2-2), B Lynch (0-1). Subs - T Ryan (0-1) for Byrne 30 mins, A Leavy for Wardick half-time, O Sheridan (0-1) for Nulty 40m, S Sheridan for Bennett 57m. Down - K A Magee; C Magee, E Downey, E Mulhern; H Murray, N McGowan, S Fegan; K Trainor (2-4), C Fitzpatrick; A Hardy, L Morgan (0-2, one free), G McClean; O Fegan, K McKay (0-3), C Laverty. Subs - L Kelly for Hardy 37 mins, Hardy for Murray 57m. Referee - Tony Lennon (Dublin).