Bray's late late show seals victory

It was mission accomplished for Meath at Pairc Tailteann on Saturday evening, but it certainly wasn't pretty as they laboured to a fortunate All-Ireland SFC qualifier win over dreadful Galway. The belief that Meath had put their awful league form behind them with the first round win over Louth went out the window as they needed a late point from Stephen Bray and an outstanding save from Brendan Murphy to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. It was a remarkable conclusion to an awful game that neither side deserved to win because both were so bad. After going 30 minutes without scoring in the second-half and seeing a 0-8 to 0-4 interval lead turned into a 0-8 to 0-9 deficit with just five minutes remaining, Meath looked down and out. The errors and dreadful form that littered the early days of the season came flooding back as Galway, who weren't much better, threatened to cause a major upset. Ultimately it needed the cool head of Bray, some poor shot selection from Cormac Bane and an excellent save from Murphy to see Meath through, but the rest of the contenders for Sam Maguire will hardly be quaking in their boots. Management and players will argue that the win was all that mattered, but the manner of the second-half implosion will worry the supporters. The victory will paper over many cracks, but the frailties were obvious and Meath's limitations were exposed. Galway's form shown in their terrible Connacht SFC defeat by Mayo suggested that Meath would coast to a win and at times in the first-half that looked set to be the case. Meath played decent football in the opening 35 minutes, albeit at less than normal championship pace. Kevin Reilly got to grips with the threat of Padraic Joyce after a shaky start and Shane O'Rourke dominated at midfield with Joe Sheridan also putting in workmanlike opening half. However, what transpired after the break must rank as one of the poorest performances by a Meath team for many years. Manager Seamus McEnaney suggested after the league loss to Derry that that second-half display was the worst he had ever been involved in, but on Saturday evening he found a new low. For 30 minutes Meath failed to muster a score. They looked clueless, nervous, distracted and leaderless as Galway whittled away at their lead. Cian Ward missed a 20-metre free from in front of the posts, Murphy dropped a harmless centre, Shane O'Rourke and Brian Meade got cleaned out at midfield, Seamus Kenny struggled to get onto breaking balls and Sheridan, Paddy O'Rourke and Paddy Gilsenan drifted out of the game. It was only the endeavour of Kevin Reilly, Ciaran Lenehan, Shane McAnarney and Bray that sustained the Meath challenge. As Meath faded Galway grew in stature. Finian Hanley put Paddy O'Rourke in his pocket while Cormac Bane and Matthew Clancy started to exert more of an influence by winning breaking ball and stretching the Meath defence. Meath were rattled throughout the second-half. Their shot selection was awful and the decision making was dreadful. Quality, experienced footballers passed the buck and failed to grab the game by the scruff of the neck. Natural scoring forwards looked to off-load possession to incoming defenders and careless tackling and mis-placed passing allowed Galway clear their lines with relative ease. While the heads and the bodies were at odds with each other, one thing that was perfectly in tune for Meath was their heart. That old resilience that once made Meath the most feared county in Ireland was summoned again in the closing stages and when questions were asked it was Bray and Murphy who came up with the answers. A bright start to the game saw Gary O'Brien get on the end of a good move involving Caoimhin King and Paddy Gilsenan to open the scoring for Meath after a minute and 30 seconds later Joyce showed his class with a tremendous equaliser. However, evidence that the quality would inevitably drop surfaced as Cian Ward saw a decent goal chance deflected out for a '45' which he then fired wide and three minutes later Mark Hehir had an effort tipped out for '45', which goalkeeper Adrian Faherty kicked wide, the first of three such efforts he had off target. Joyce gave Galway the lead for the first time in the ninth minute when he benefitted from a broken ball, but then Meath upped the tempo and played their best football of the evening in the following nine minutes. A foul on the lively Bray allowed Cian Ward open his account from 40 metres, but it wasn't to be the Wolfe Tones man's night as he squandered several decent opportunities before being replaced 16 minutes from the end. Sheridan was rewarded for his hard work with the lead point for Meath and 30 seconds later Meade made it 0-4 to 0-2. Some superb inter-play between Bray and Sheridan resulted in a fine point for the O'Mahonys man and when McAnarney had a decent goalbound effort tipped over the bar by Hanley Meath found themselves with a deserved 0-6 to 0-2 cushion. A careless tackle by O'Brien on Bane saw Joyce narrow the gap before Ward missed the first of two close range frees. Galway suffered a further setback when Micheal Meehan was forced off after injuring himself when trying to win a penalty with a theatrical dive. Shane O'Rourke increased Meath's lead to 0-7 to 0-3 after 25 minutes, but it would be another 12 minutes before there would be another score as Meath racked up nine wides. Bray ended the drought two minutes into first-half injury-time and seconds later Bane closed the gap to leave Galway 0-4 to 0-8 adrift at the break. Meath supporters were confident at half-time, but they couldn't have envisaged the diabolical display that followed the break. A clever foul by Kevin Reilly on Joyce prevented a goal scoring opportunity at the expense of a pointed free from Bane, but Meath continued to mis-fire up front with Ward, Bray and Sheridan all firing wide before Bane notched his third point to close the gap to 0-6 to 0-8. Both sides were atrocious and after Bane's score there was another 12 minute scoring drought before Joyce left the minimum between the sides with a simple score 11 minutes from the end. Two minutes later Gareth Bradshaw made amends for two earlier wides with the equalising point and when Clancy edged the Connacht side ahead for only the second time the Meath fans were silenced. Substitute Graham Reilly finally opened Meath's second-half account five minutes from the end to bring the sides level again, but moments later his stray handpass was intercepted by Clancy and Johnny Duane edged Galway in front again, 0-10 to 0-9. Meath looked doomed. However, they refused to panic, dug deep into the royal reservoir of courage and came up with a brilliant equalising score from Brian Farrell a minute into injury-time and then the winning point from the coolest player on the field, Bray. However, there was still more drama to come. Galway attacked in the dying seconds and when the ball fell to Bane it seemed certain he would take his point and force extra time. Instead the corner forward had his angles shut down quickly by the advancing Murphy and the Trim goalkeeper parried the goalbound shot to safety before Michael Collins' final whistle prompted Meath celebrations and a mass collapse of exhausted players to the ground. SCORERS Meath - S Bray 0-3; C Ward 0-1, free; J Sheridan 0-1; S McAnarney 0-1; B Meade 0-1; G O'Brien 0-1; S O'Rourke 0-1; G Reilly 0-1; B Farrell 0-1. Galway - P Joyce 0-4, one frees; C Bane 0-3, one free; G Bradshaw 0-1; M Clancy 0-1; J Duane 0-1. THE TEAMS Meath - B Murphy; G O'Brien, K Reilly, C O'Connor; C Lenehan, S McAnarney, C King; S O'Rourke, B Meade; P Gilsenan, J Sheridan, S Kenny; S Bray, P O'Rourke, C Ward. Subs - G Reilly for Gilsenan 40 mins, B Farrell for P O'Rourke 45m, M Ward for C Ward 54m, E Reilly for King 64m, N Crawford for Meade 64m. Galway - A Faherty; J Duane, F Hanley, C Forde; G Bradshaw, D Blake, G Sice; J Bergin, F O Curraoin; T Flynn, M Hehir, M Clancy; M Meehan, P Joyce, C Bane. Subs - F Breathnach for Meehan 23 mins, P Conroy for Bergin 53m, E Concannon for Hehir 55m, M Boyle for Clancy 71m. REFEREE Michael Collins (Cork).