Away day blues keep on coming

The away day blues continued for Meath on Sunday as they opened their NFL Div 2 campaign with a frustrating and disappointing loss to hosts Laois in O'Moore Park, Portlaoise. Meath have now lost all of their last five NFL games away from Pairc Tailteann. The last away win in the league came in 2009 when they made hard work of overcoming Wexford. To make matters worse this first round tie was seen as a must win game if Meath were to harbour any realistic ambitions of securing promotion to Div 1. They beat Laois in last year's league meeting, thumped them by 10 points in the Leinster SFC last summer and were too strong when the sides met in the O'Byrne Shield in January, so it was reasonable to expect a Meath victory. However, what transpired was a disjointed performance that mixed the good and bad of what has been Meath's form over the last four years. There were times when Meath looked very good. They knitted together some excellent moves and kicked several fine scores. In contrast there were also occasions when the old frailties of abdicating responsibility and fragility in the tackle came back to haunt them. The delay of 19 hours because of a flooded pitch on Saturday night didn't help Meath's cause, but neither can it be used as an excuse. The heavy overnight rain had made the terrain difficult for both sides, but it was Laois who looked more comfortable and capable. During a particularly worrying opening period Meath looked ragged. Only some superb goalkeeping from Brendan Murphy and excellent defending by Kevin Reilly limited Laois's half-time cushion to three points. During that opening period, Meath's defence were opened up with remarkable frequency. Ross Munnelly and Michael John Tierney tormented the corner-backs while Brian Meade struggled to settle into his centre-back role. When Meath were on the front foot, they saw decent attacking moves break down because of wayward passing or sloppy handling. Conor Gillespie never got into the game and while Mark Ward did have some good moments he also was reckless in a number of tackles and overturned possession to Laois. The anticipated threat of Meath's version of the twin towers, Joe Sheridan and Shane O'Rourke, never materialised. The Simonstown man was virtually anonymous as he struggled to get into the game and while Sheridan was the pick of the Meath forwards the quality into him was sadly lacking. Paddy Gilsenan worked hard and won crucial ball, but he lacked the support necessary to build on his good play. Cian Ward was a threat from frees, but didn't offer enough from open play and while Shane McAnarney and Graham Reilly were enterprising their reward for their hard work wasn't sufficient to worry Laois. Conceding 1-14 will ensure you lose more games than you will win, but to notch up 1-11 in such poor conditions is something to be positive about. All bar three of Meath's points came from frees, while Laois managed just 1-6 from play. Meath did have chances in a vastly improved second-half display, but the concession of the fourth minute sloppy goal left them chasing the game. Meath started brightly and enjoyed the better of the early exchanges. Cian Ward converted a 23-metre free after Sheridan was fouled by Kevin Meaney to give the visitors the lead, but it was the only time they had their noses in front. Brendan Quigley was denied a goal by a smart Murphy save before Billy Sheehan brought Laois level in the fourth minute. Seconds later Sheehan left Kevin Reilly trailing in his wake as he set up John O'Loughlin for a simple tap in and in the sixth minute Tierney opened his account with a brilliantly converted free to leave Meath trailing by 0-1 to 1-2. McAnarney forced Eoin Culleton to tip his point blank volley over the bar and two minutes later Sheridan pointed well to close the gap to two points. However, every time Meath got close to Laois the hosts managed to find another gear and pulled clear again. Successive frees from Munnelly and Tierney (two) stretched Laois's advantage to 1-5 to 0-3 before Meath started to settle again. Sheridan looked to have been fouled for a penalty by Meaney, but referee Pat Fox deemed the offence to have been outside the large square and awarded a 13-metre free which Cian Ward converted. Three minutes later another good move ended with Sheridan being fouled by Meaney again and again Cian Ward tapped over the free. Remarkably Meaney avoided a yellow card despite his incessant fouling of Sheridan. Eleven minutes before the break Sheridan was denied a goal when his rasping shot was brilliantly blocked by Meaney. Meath were on the up. Graham Reilly intercepted Culleton's poor pass to Quigley and pointed, but with the gap narrowing to 0-6 to 1-5, Laois upped the tempo again. Munnelly pointed superbly and Niall Donoher also found his range before Shane O'Rourke's most telling contribution yielded a fine score. Laois could have added a second goal, but Murphy was at his brilliant best to deny Mark Timmons and just before the break Cian Ward wasted a decent chance to close the gap when he dropped a 13-metre free short and Laois cleared to stay 1-7 to 0-7 ahead at the break. Meath supporter's plea for a good start to the second-half fell on deaf ears as Laois extended their advantage to five with two points from Tierney. The half-time introduction of Nigel Crawford (pictured) added more bite to the Meath midfield and six minutes after the resumption the Dunboyne man almost snatched a goal, but was denied by Culleton. Meath's newly appointed captain Seamus Kenny eventually opened the second-half scoring for his side after 13 minutes and by the end of the third-quarter further points from Sheridan and McAnarney had the deficit down to 0-10 to 1-9. Munnelly settled Laois with a pointed free, but with 16 minutes remaining Meath were boosted when good play by Kenny and substitute Brian Farrell and a clever flick by McAnarney to Sheridan set up Crawford for a fine goal to make it 1-10 each. Instead of being encouraged by their recovery, Meath slipped into old failings. Indecisiveness and carelessness became the predominant feature of their play as Laois restored their three-point cushion with scores from O'Loughlin and Tierney (two frees). Kevin Reilly launched a huge effort over the bar to give Meath hope with two minutes remaining, but they rarely looked like threatening Culleton for the match-winning goal. Two minutes into injury-time Quigley sealed the win for Laois that will send Meath manager Seamus McEnaney and his backroom team back to the drawing board ahead of Sligo's visit to Navan on Sunday 20th February. SCORERS Laois – M J Tierney 0-7, six frees; J O'Loughlin 1-1; R Munnelly 0-3, two frees; B Sheehan, N Donoher, B Quigley 0-1 each. Meath – C Ward 0-3, frees; N Crawford 1-0; J Sheridan, S McAnarney 0-2 each; S O'Rourke, G Reilly, S Kenny, K Reilly 0-1 each. TEAMS Laois – E Culleton; R Kehoe, K Meaney, P McMahon; C Boyle, D Strong, S Julian; B Quigley, M Timmons; C Begley, J O'Loughlin, N Donoher; R Munnelly, B Sheehan, M J Tierney. Subs – D Carroll for Sheehan 40 mins, C Healy for McMahon 57m, P Clancy for Timmons 59m, K Lillis for Kehoe 65m, P Cahillane for Munnelly 68m. Meath – B Murphy; G O'Brien, K Reilly, C King; S Kenny, B Meade, C McGuinness; M Ward, C Gillespie; S McAnarney, S O'Rourke, P Gilsenan; G Reilly, J Sheridan, C Ward. Subs – N Crawford for Gillespie half-time, B Farrell for G Reilly 47 mins, A Moyles for C Ward 49m, P O'Rourke for Gilsenan 60m, A Nestor for McAnarney 67m. REFEREE Pat Fox (Westmeath).