Royal ladies exit through back door

Meath's hopes of making a back door-impact on the Ladies All-Ireland SFC faltered at the first hurdle as Tipperary proved too strong at Banagher on Monday afternoon. Boosted by an impressive performance when narrowly losing out to Laois in the Leinster SFC semi-final Meath went into the game with high hopes, but exited the championship down in the dumps. It was a lethargic and uncharacteristic performance from the young side. The creativity, flair and hunger that was evident in previous outings was absent as Tipperary were afforded acres of room and took full advantage. Meath had edged out the Premier County in the NFL Div 2 this year, but on this occasion the much-changed Royal girls were rarely at the races, even when Tipperary had three players in the sin-bin late in the game. Tackles were weak and there was a lack of desire for long periods. Even when Meath did have the upperhand for a brief period early in the second-half they couldn't make the most of it as Tipperary ran riot. The winners were a lot more cohesive. Much of Meath's defending was by the seat of their pants as Eileen Rahill and Mary Sheridan, in a deeper role that her corner-forward listing suggested, were some of the few to impress. Philomena Sheridan also did well when moved to full-back, but by that stage the game was lost. Jenny Rispin produced a powerhouse display at midfield and was probably Meath's best player, but too often her attempts to launch attacks were stifled. Elaine Duffy contributed seven of Meath's nine-point tally with five coming from frees. That fact that Meath managed just four scores from play indicates the problems they endured trying to string decent attacks together. It was clear from early on that Meath were going to have their work cut out. Patricia Hickey and Duffy traded points in the opening two minutes, but before the 10th minute Meath were 0-2 to 1-3 adrift as another Duffy free was countered by 1-1 from Hickey and an Edel Hanley free. That deficit became seven points by the end of the opening quarter as Anne Marie O'Gorman, Hanley and Hickey pointed. Rispin responded with Meath's first point in 12 minutes, but Tipperary established a 1-8 to 0-3 interval lead with further scores from Hanley. After the resumption Duffy immediately narrowed the gap before Jennifer Grant galloped forward to restore Tipperary's eight-point lead. Then Meath hit a purple patch and closed the gap to 0-7 to 1-9 with three frees from Duffy. That was as good as it got for Meath. The introduction of Gillian O'Brien restored Tipperary's supremacy as she added three points and set up Hickey for her second goal to ensure no way back for Meath who ended their season on a disappointing note. Tipperary - N Noonan; A O'Dwyer, M Corcoran, B Ryan; J Grant (0-1), S Lambert, S Costello; K Hackett, M Morrissey; A M O'Gorman (0-1), M Luttrell, S Carew; C Walsh, P Hickey (2-4), E Hanley (0-7, four frees). Sub - G O'Brien (0-3) for O'Gorman. Meath - I Munnelly; C Coffey, E Rahill, M Kealy; C Dempsey, A Murray, A Fagan; J Rispin (0-1), E Wardick; O Sheridan, S Bennett, B Lynch; E Duffy (0-7, five frees), Mena Sheridan, Mary Sheridan. Subs - O Duff for Fagan, D Flynn for Bennett, A Leavy for Lynch, R Considine for Duff, S Martin (0-1) for Murray. Referee - Des McEnery (Westmeath).