Meath and Monaghan draw in final NFL Div 1 encounter

Meath picked up their first NFL Div 1 point of the campaign with a draw against Monaghan today at Clones with an added time point from Jordan Morris earning the share of the spoils.

The game finished Monaghan 2-14, Meath 1-17.

For the second week in-a-row Meath got off to a slow start and found themselves behind within 90 seconds as Conor McCarthy pointed for the hosts and Meath trailed by 0-7 to 1-7 at the break.

The second period continued as the first ended with Monaghan looking dangerous on the break, but with Meath tagging on the scores to claw their way into contention.

Jordan Morris opened Meath's second-half account with a free and then closed the deficit to the minimum when he gathered Shane Walsh's brilliant delivery and pointed the mark to make it 0-9 to 1-7.

While Meath defended well they were also patient in their build up and an outstanding move involving Cathal Hickey, Donal Keogan, Mathew Costello and Bryan McMahon ended with Bryan Menton fisting to the net at the back post to give Meath the lead for the first time.

Monaghan capitalised on two defensive errors to restore parity with one from a free and one from play to make it 1-9 each at the second water break.

Morris restored Meath's lead, but after McManus and Morris traded frees it was Monaghan who looked to have taken the game by the scruff of the neck with McManus and Dermot Malone lofting over points before Meath surrendered possession from a kickout and McManus rifled to the net to make it 2-12 to 1-11 with eight minutes remaining.

Points from Thomas O'Reilly and Joey Wallace either side of a Kieran Duffy score made it a one-score game, 1-13 to 2-13, with four minutes left. O'Reilly cut the deficit further with another free and in the 71st minute Morris cut through the Monaghan defence, but there was no one at the back post to get on the end of his cross.

Two minutes later McManus restored Monaghan's three point cushion from a free and that looked like curtains for Meath, but Morris had other ideas.

In the 74th minute he pointed superbly and from the resultant poor kick-out he fired over a glorious goal chance to close the gap to one.

Five minutes into injury-time Meath launched one last attack and it was Morris who showed nerves of steel to step up and execute a brilliant finish from distance to earn Meath's only point from a difficult NFL Div 1 campaign.

SCORERS

Meath – Jordan Morris 0-7 three frees; Thomas O'Reilly 0-4 three frees; Bryan Menton 1-0; Ronan Jones 0-2; Shane Walsh 0-1; Jason Scully 0-1 one mark; Cillian O'Sullivan 0-1; Joey Wallace 0-1.

Monaghan – Conor McManus 1-8 three frees; Conor McCarthy 0-2 one free; Rory Beggan 0-1 free; Micheal Bannigan 1-0; Fintan Kelly 0-1; Derrmot Malone 0-1; Kieran Duffy 0-1.

TEAMS

Meath – Andy Colgan; Seamus Lavin, Conor McGill, David Toner; Cathal Hickey, Ronan Ryan, Donal Keogan; Bryan Menton, Ronan Jones; Jason Scully, Bryan McMahon, Shane McEntee; Cillian O'Sullivan, Shane Walsh, Thomas O'Reilly. Subs – Jordan Morris for O'Sullivan 25 mins, Mathew Costello for Scully half-time, Joey Wallace for McMahon 48m, Eoin Harkin for Toner 53m, Jack O'Connor for Hickey 64m, Ethan Devine for walsh 68m.

Monaghan – Rory Beggan; Kieran Duffy, Conor Boyle, Ryan Wylie; Ryan McAnespie, Fintan Kelly, Karl O'Connell; Darren Hughes, Andrew Woods; Dessie Ward, Micheal Bannigan, Stephen O'Hanlon; David Garland, Conor McCarthy, Conor McManus. Subs – Killian Lavelle for Woods half-time, Christopher McGuinness for Garland 40 mins, Dermot Malone for Bannigan, Shane Carey for O'Hanlon both 47m, Kieran Hughes for McCarthy 57m.

Referee - Joe McQuillan (Cavan).