Disappointment in Birr for Meath Ladies

Meath suffered the rare bitter taste of defeat at Birr today as their return to senior football ended with a narrow 0-10 to 1-9 loss to perennial All-Ireland contenders Cork.

It goes to show just have far Meath have come in such a short space of time that the players were so bitterly disappointed at the final whistle, just six years after the county side had been humiliated by 40 points by the same opposition.

Meath's progression from a Div 3 and Intermediate also ran to a Div 1 side and genuine senior contenders has been meteoric, but they were taught a lesson or two on Saturday by the old hands of the game, Cork.

When Cork were under pressure, penned back by a Meath side rampant in search of a late equaliser, the Rebels stood their ground, retained possession cleverly and ran the Royals ragged.

Meath hassled, harried, pushed and shoved, but couldn't get enough contact to force a turnover. Cork's experience got them over the line, but Meath can certainly be proud of their effort.

That pride will also be tinged with frustration as they missed a great opportunity to cause a major shock, particularly in the opening half when they missed three frees and dropped a couple of efforts tamely into Martina O'Brien's hands.

Those mistakes won't haunt Meath, at least hopefully not. Instead, Meath will learn from this experience and undoubtedly improve.

At no stage were Meath overawed or over-powered. Even after Cork opened the scoring from a first minute Orla Finn free and dominated possession in the early stages, Meath never panicked.

A superb 80-metre run by Vikki Wall ended with the Meath midfielder being fouled and with the free moved to within range for dissent Stacey Grimes converted to restore parity in the sixth minute.

Despite strong defending Meath fell behind two minutes later when Sadhbh O'Leary pointed, but a magnificent sweeping attack yielded another equaliser with Emma Duggan on target.

Meath looked to have taken the lead for the first time when another superb move involving Maire O'Shaughnessy, Orlagh Lally and Grimes saw Niamh O'Sullivan's short point attempt flicked to the net by the in-rushing Bridgetta Lynch, but the referee ruled the Oldcastle player had been in the small square - it looked a harsh decision.

Cork took advantage of that let off with Finn converting another free and after Lynch rattled the crossbar with a stinging effort, Finn countered with her third point to make it 0-4 to 0-2 at the water break.

Ciara O'Sullivan stretched that lead to three when play resumed, but Meath refused to buckle and Grimes made amends for a couple of missed frees by converting after Wall was fouled.

Aoibhin Cleary closed the deficit to the minimum with a fine score after 30 minutes, but in the closing seconds of the half the Meath defence allowed Cork switch the point of attack to Melissa Duggan who cut towards goals and crossed to Brid O'Sullivan who rounded Monica McGuirk to ensure a 1-5 to 0-4 interval lead.

That goal could have knocked the stuffing out of Meath's challenge, but they responded well after the break with two Grimes frees either side of a similar effort from Finn closing the gap to 0-6 to 1-6 as Cork temporarily went down to 14 players with Hannah Looney sin-binned.

Melissa Duggan restored Cork's four point cushion before Lynch went close to finding the net again in the 43rd minute as she got on the end of Wall's short point attempt, but deflected the ball over the bar.

Another missed free from Grimes ensured Cork maintained a 0-7 to 1-7 lead at the second water break, but when play resumed a swift counter-attack involving Cleary, Grimes and Ally saw O'Sullivan cut the deficit to two points.

McGuirk denied Eimear Scally a goal with a fine save before Grimes made it 0-9 to 1-7 as Looney returned.

Scally and Duggan traded points to maintain the one-point gap, but that was as close as Meath could get as Cork used all their wealth of experience to retain possession and then add the insurance point from a Scally free with the last kick of the game to break Meath hearts.

SCORERS

Meath - Stacey Grimes 0-5 frees; Emma Duggan 0-1; Bridgetta Lynch 0-1; Aoibhin Cleary 0-1; Niamh O'Sullivan 0-1; Emma Duggan 0-1.

Cork - Orla Finn 0-4 three frees; Brid O'Sullivan 1-0; Eimear Scally 0-2 frees; Ciara O'Sullivan 0-1; Sadhbh O'Leary 0-1; Melissa Duggan 0-1.

TEAMS

Meath - Monica McGuirk; Katie Newe, Mary Kate Lynch, Shauna Ennis; Aoibhin Cleary, Emma Troy, Aoibheann Leahy; Vikki Wall, Maire O'Shaughnessy; Orlagh Lally, Emma Duggan, Niamh O'Sullivan; Stacey Grimes, Bridgetta Lynch, Orla Byrne. Subs - Megan Thynne for Leahy, Niamh Gallogly for Byrne both 43 mins, Shelly Melia for Lally 58m.

Cork - Martina O'Brien; Meabh Cahalane, Roisin Phelan, Marie Ambrose; Erika O'Shea, Aisling Hutchings, Melissa Duggan; Marie O'Callaghan, Hannah looney; Libby Coppinger, Ciara O'Sullivan, Orla Finn; Sadhbh O'Leary, Brid O'Sullivan, Eimear Scally. Subs - Eimear Kiely for O'Callaghan 15 mins, Aine O'Sullivan for Coppinger half-time, Daire Kiely for Finn 43m, Katie Quirke for O'Sullivan 56m, Shauna Kelly for Kiely 58m.