Meath cruise to victory over Longford

There was nobody getting carried away with themselves as they left Pairc Tailteann today following Meath's emphatic 4-22 to 0-12 Leinster SFC quarter-final victory over dejected Longford.

Despite kicking 4-18 from play, conceding just five points from play and spreading their scores between 12 different scorers, there was still an air of cautious celebration amongst the several hundred Meath fans in attendance.

Undoubtedly Meath were superb. Almost every aspect of their game plan was executed to perfection and they punished Longford with ruthless efficiency, but the quality of Longford's resistance has to be questioned.

Longford came into today's game off the back of an impressive finish to their league campaign that saw them survive with victory over Tipperary and a high-scoring return in their Leinster SFC win over Carlow a week earlier.

However Meath were simply too hot to handle. Power, pace and precision were the keys to dismantling Longford's challenge and while they did offer stiff resistance in the opening 30 minutes, they folded like a cheap suit before half-time and were out of contention long before Cathal Hickey added a third goal for Meath in the 49th minute.

The flurry of body blows in first-half injury saw Meath extend a 1-7 to 0-6 advantage to 2-10 to 0-6 at the break and when Hickey produced a brilliant finish for the third goal it put 14 points between the sides and reduced the remainder to a box ticking exercise.

The tone was set inside 90 seconds when Shane McEntee, of all men, sold a sumptuous dummy after great play by Fionn Reilly and Bryan McMahon and fired to the net.

As if to give further indication of how the day might transpire the normally lethal Rian Brady missed from a simple mark and it was clear it was going to be Meath's day.

Maybe it was an awareness of what had happened when the sides last met in the championship (Longford won by two points in 2018) or maybe it was because of the dent to confidence suffered in the NFL Div 2 loss to Kildare, but Meath took their time to assert their obvious supremacy and they allowed Longford stay in touch.

Points from McMahon and Hickey either side of a Brady score edged Meath four points clear, but Longford capitalised of some favourable decisions and responded with Darren Gallagher converting a free and Dessie Reynolds adding a point to make it 0-3 to 1-2 after 13 minutes.

Cillian O'Sullivan fisted over to restore Meath's three-point cushion, but before the first water break a free from Robbie Smyth kept Longford very much in touch.

The close nature of those early exchanges continued when play resumed with Jordan Morris and Matt Costello from a '45' trading points with Brady and David McGivney (free) to make it 1-5 to 0-6 after 31 minutes.

Then the tide turned.

A serious injection of urgency and punch produced points for Reilly and McMahon from a free after Morris shipped a dangerous shoulder from Andrew Farrell and in the three minutes of first-half injury-time the contest was settled.

A superb score from Bryan Menton was followed by points from Joey Wallace and Morris, from a miraculously taken mark, and in the last play of the half McMahon centered the ball across the face of the goals for Morris to palm to the net and ensure a 2-10 to 0-6 interval lead.

Longford kicked two of the first three points in the first six minutes of the second period with McGivney (free) and Kevin Diffley sandwiching a well won score from McMahon - then Meath moved through the gears again.

The exceptional Hickey and the lively Morris responded with points before the move of the match involving Shane McEntee, and McMahon saw Hickey finish to the net to make it 3-13 to 0-8.

Even though the game was beyond doubt and Meath used their five substitutes, they still looked hungry and threatening.

McMahon and Morris (free) stretched the lead to 16 points before a Brady free pulled one back for hapless Longford before the second water break.

The final quarter belonged to James McEntee as he marked his introduction with four magnificent points and with Eamon Wallace and O'Sullivan (two) also tagging on points and James Conlon finishing for a fine fourth goal it put the cherry on the icing on the cake of a fine Meath performance - but there will be tougher tests ahead.

SCORERS

Meath - Jordan Morris 1-4 one free, one mark; Cathal Hickey 1-2; Bryan McMahon 0-4 one free; James McEntee 0-4; Shane McEntee 1-0; James Conlon 1-0; Cillian O'Sullivan 0-3; Fionn Reilly 0-1; Bryan Menton 0-1; Joey Wallace 0-1; Matt Costello 0-1 '45'; Eamon Wallace 0-1.

Longford - Rian Brady 0-3 one free; David McGivney 0-3 frees; Darren Gallagher 0-1 free; Dessie Reynolds 0-1; Robbie Smyth 0-1 free; Kevin Diffley 0-1; Darragh Doherty 0-1; Joseph Hagan 0-1 mark.

TEAMS

Meath - Andy Colgan; Seamus Lavin, Ronan Ryan, Donal Keogan; Cathal Hickey, Shane McEntee, Fionn Reilly; Bryan Menton, Padraic Harnan; Ethan Devine, Bryan McMahon, Mathew Costello; Jordan Morris, Cillian O'Sullivan, Joey Wallace. Subs - Eamon Wallace for Menton 45 mins, Michael Newman for Morris, James McEntee for Hickey both 53m, James Conlon for Costello, Jack O'Connor for Reilly both 61m.

Longford - Paddy Collum; Patrick Fox, Andrew Farrell, Enda Macken; Iarla O'Sullivan, Michael Quinn, Daniel Mimnagh; Kevin Diffley, Darren Gallagher, Donal McElligott; Robbie Smyth, Joseph Hagan, Rian Brady. Subs - Dylan Farrell for Gallagher half-time, Oran Kenny for McElligott, Liam Connerton for Smyth both 52m, Peter Lynn for Mimnagh 53m, Darragh Doherty for O'Sullivan 58m.

Referee - Ciaran Branagan (Down).