Meath advance after spirited display against battling Louth

Meath took another step towards a Leinster VEC Inter-County SFC title when they proved too resilient for Louth in the quarter-final at Simonstown on Saturday afternoon. Louth will certainly feel that they left this game behind them as they dictated for long periods and were unfortunate to end the hour with a four-point deficit. The boys from the Wee County were well in control as the interval approached, but then conceded 1-3 in what, for them, was a disastrous three-minute spell and trailed by 0-7 to 1-5 at the break. That gave Meath, the current provincial champions, a platform to build on after the resumption and they managed to grind out a victory in a dour second-half. Meath manager Kit Henry and selectors Ultan Fitzpatrick, Peter McCormack, Joe Gibney and Pat Kenny made a number of changes in both personnel and positions from the previous week's victory over Longford at Abbeylara. Shane McEntee (Dunboyne) was moved to midfield with Ronan McMahon (Kells) taking over the centre-back role while Nobber's Stephen O'Brien came in at wing-back for Ashbourne's Sean Byrne. Another Kells palyer, Michael Brogan, was relegated to the substitute's bench to make way for McEntee at midfield. Oisin Reilly, who came on as a half-time substitute last week retained his place in the half-forward line where Ratoath's Eamonn Wallace replaced Conor O'Brien at centre-forward, O'Brien moved into the full-forward line where Paul Donnellan lost out. McMahon was replaced after only 13 minutes by Ratoath's Brian Power (pictured) while Brogan joined the fray at midfield soon after, Liam Beggy was withdrawn. Louth, who included Syddan's Michael Smith at full-back, enjoyed a good win against Offaly in the opening round. They also featured another Syddan player, Ronan Mooney and a Duleek/Bellewstown player, Jamie Brannigan, in their panel and both appeared as second-half substitutes. Disjointed Meath took all of 23 minutes to settle into any sort of rhythm although they managed to collect three yellow cards, the first after two minutes. During that tentative opening period Meath managed a solitary point from Wallace and were never really in contention. The changes saw Power and Brogan introduced and that had a stifling effect on what, up to that stage, was a potent-looking Louth attack in which centre-forward Kevin Hearty was a constant threat. Hearty scored three points (one free), augmented by fine efforts from Karl Martin and Richie Halpenny for a 0-5 to 0-1 lead. Dunshaughlin's Niall Carolan converted a free in the 23rd minute, but Leavy replied instantly for Louth at the other end. However, Meath were beginning to show signs of the form that brought that comfortable 15-point victory over Longford and Carolan split the posts from another free after a frantic scramble in the Louth square almost produced a Meath goal in the 27th minute. Louth's reprieve was brief and a fine move 60 seconds later saw the net bulge and brought Meath to level terms (1-3 to 0-6). Carolan, Wallace and McEntee were involved in the build up and Oisin Reilly applied the finishing touch. Wallace and Reilly added further points, but Louth broke the cycle of Meath dominance with a point from a Hearty free and trailed by the minimum at the break. Meath maintained the momentum after the resumption as the teams traded a brace of third-quarter points. McEntee and Conor O'Brien were on the mark for Meath while Martin and Hearty kept Louth in touch. The Louth boys also collected three yellow cards while Meath's Ryan Carey was fortunate to escape serious injury following a clash that the referee deemed accidental. With three minutes remaining Louth's Oladimeji Olajudu got forward from his corner back position for a well-taken point that left his side adrift by 0-10 to 1-8, but Meath finished strong and in six minutes of injury-time added points from Brogan, Carey and Carolan. Meath can now look forward to a semi-final on Saturday 14th January, Dublin have also qualified following their 1-10 to 1-8 victory over Wicklow. Louth will have another chance to get back into the frame in a play-off next Saturday when they tackle either Longford, Wicklow or the winner of the play-off between Kildare and Wexford. Two of those five teams will make it back into the semi-finals. Meath - Shay Rooney (Ratoath); Gareth Deery (Ashbourne), Padraig Gallagher (Dunboyne), Niall Lenehan (Ashbourne); Conor Carton (Ashbourne), Ronan McMahon (Kells), Stephen O'Brien (Nobber 0-1); Shane McEntee (Dunboyne 0-1), Liam Beggy (Kells); Oisin Reilly (Kells 1-1), Eamonn Wallace (Ratoath 0-2), Caoimhin Griffin (Athboy); Conor O'Brien (Dunshaughlin 0-1), Niall Carolan (Dunshaughlin 0-3 frees), Ryan Carey (Nobber 0-1). Subs - Brian Power (Ratoath) for McMahon 13 mins, Michael Brogan (Kells 0-1) for Beggy 22m, Aidan Hughes (Ashbourne) for Reilly 42m, Tony Smith (Kells) for Griffin 55m. Louth - C Costello; N Eccles, Michael Smith (Syddan), O Olajudu (0-1); E Lafferty, R Hand, E Duffy; D Marks, S Crosbie; W Campbell, K Hearty (0-5 four frees), T Donegan; R Halpenny (0-1), K Martin (0-2), E Leavy (0-1). Subs - Jamie Brannigan (Duleek / Bellewstown) for Donegan 55mins, Ronan Mooney (Syddan) for Leavy 60m. Referee - Damien Maher (Westmeath).