Shockingly poor Meath embarrassed

There have been many disappointing away days for Meath football in recent years, but Saturday evening's NFL Div 2 drubbing by Tyrone in Omagh will rank as one of the worst. With just one game remaining, against Louth in two weeks time, Meath find themselves in deep relegation mire and to make matters worse their positive scoring difference took a hammering, and that could be crucial. More worryingly it is difficult to see where the improvement can come from. The optimism that surrounded the early wins over Monaghan and Westmeath has swiftly abated and been replaced with a bleak outlook. Saturday's performance suggested that Meath are in decline. There was no style and little substance about the challenge they put up to their unbeaten hosts and when they were reduced to 14 men following the 52nd minute dismissal of Kevin Reilly Meath were lucky that Tyrone took their foot off the gas. Once again the scoring return was dreadful with only two points from play for Cian Ward and Graham Reilly. Defensively Meath were carved open by the pacy Tyrone players who attacked in waves and had Meath chasing shadows all over the field. Efforts to hold onto possession with short kickouts failed miserably and with Tyrone's blanket defence and swarming tactics making life difficult Meath were never able to settle and were not at the races. The 10-point margin of victory doesn't do justice to Tyrone's level of supremacy. Peter Harte pulled the strings from centre-back and with Ryan McMenamin and Cathal McCarron galloping forward at will Meath were drowning in a pool of Ulster strength. With so many openings being carved open Stephen O'Neill rolled back the years with a superb first-half performance that yielded 1-2. Former minor star Kyle Coney also gave an exhibition of his brilliance and with Mark Donnelly and Niall McKenna also running from deep Tyrone were very impressive. With so many players excelling it was no surprise that Tyrone were so comfortable, but there were few as impressive as the Cavanagh brothers Colm and Sean. Both men tormented Meath and were unmarkable. Colm Cavanagh lorded midfield despite some decent resistance from Mark Ward and although Donncha Tobin was one of Meath's better players Sean Cavanagh was outstanding. Meath looked heavy-legged and weary. Several players were obviously suffering after some lung bursting runs, while the Tyrone legs appeared as if they could go on forever. The signs were ominous early on. Tyrone had two wides on the board in the opening seconds and in the sixth minute they opened their account when Colm Cavanagh's long punt forward caught Kevin Reilly and David Gallagher in two minds and allowed O'Neill sneak in behind them to fist the bouncing ball to the net. It was a calamitous goal and handed Tyrone the initiative that Seamus McEnaney had hoped to deny them by flooding his defence and leaving just Cian Ward and Stephen Bray in attack. The dour opening 11 minutes saw three yellow cards (for Meath's Tom Walsh and the hosts Colm Cavanagh and Harte) and only one score. Tyrone eventually stretched their lead when Coney converted a free after he had been fouled by Mark Ward. Meath looked totally off the pace and the best they could muster in that opening spell was a clearcut chance for Seamus Kenny, which he screwed wide. Cian Ward suggested that Meath might offer some resistance when he capitalised on good work by Bray to split the posts. Three minutes later he drove a '45' over the bar against the wind and hinted the comeback was on, 0-2 to 1-1. That deficit was reduced to the minimum four minutes later when the Wolfe Tones man converted a free, but that proved to be a false dawn as Tyrone settled back into their game again and dominated the remainder of the half. Donnelly's outstanding run was halted illegally by Shane McAnarney and further indiscipline handed Sean Cavanagh a simple tap over free from in front of the posts. Another sweeping move from defence resulted in a great score for Aidan Cassidy and then Sean Cavanagh made it 1-4 to 0-3 with a brilliant point. O'Neill showed his class with a superb dummy to fool Caoimhin King before lofting over and just before the break he shrugged off the tame challenge of Mickey Burke to make it 1-6 to 0-3 at half-time. Turning with the wind at their backs for the second-half Meath had hoped for a quick start, but instead it was Tyrone who continued where they had left off. Two Coney frees stretched their lead to 1-8 to 0-3 before Kevin Reilly received his first yellow card for a foul on McKenna. McCarron made it 1-9 to 0-3 before Harte drove a great goal chance over the bar to put 10 points between the sides. Graham Reilly temporarily halted Meath's pain with a fine point, but the outcome was never in doubt. Tyrone took off O'Neill, introduced Owen Mulligan and proceeded to take their foot off the gas. After Gallagher had saved well from Donnelly, Harte capitalised on a poor clearance to make it 1-11 to 0-4 and Meath's frustrations grew when Kevin Reilly received his second yellow card and subsequent red for dragging out of Coney's shirt. After the O'Mahonys man departed Coney converted the free as Tyrone closed their account. The remainder saw Tyrone play keep-ball. Meath struggled to muster any attacks with their last score coming from a Bray free as they turned their attentions to a must-win game when Louth come to Navan on Sunday 9th April. SCORERS Tyrone - S O'Neill 1-2; K Coney 0-4 frees; S Cavanagh 0-2 one free; P Harte 0-2; A Cassidy 0-1; C McCarron 0-1. Meath - C Ward 0-3 one free, one '45'; S Bray 0-1 free; G Reilly 0-1. THE TEAMS Tyrone - J Devine; A McCrory, J McMahon, C Gormley; C McCarron, P Harte, R Menamin; A Cassidy, C Cavanagh; R McNabb, M Donnelly, S Cavanagh; K Coney, N McKenna, S O'Neill. Subs - O Mulligan for O'Neill 46 mins, J Lafferty for Coney 54m, C Gervin for Donnelly 58m, S McNally for McNabb 63m, Meath - David Gallagher; Mickey Burke, Kevin Reilly, Caoimhin King; Shane McAnarney, Bryan Menton, Donncha Tobin; Tom Walsh, Mark Ward; Seamus Kenny, Stephen Bray, Graham Reilly; Paddy Gilsenan, Jamie Queeney, Cian Ward. Subs - Brian Meade for Walsh 19 mins, Brian Farrell for Queeney half-time, Ciaran Lenehan for Kenny 41m, Conor Gillespie for M Ward 46m, Damien Carroll for G Reilly 58m. REFEREE Padraig Hughes (Armagh).