Meath open camogie campaign with a win

In Saharan conditions Meath survived the blistering heat and an improved second-half display from Dublin to open their All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie challenge with a 1-19 to 1-10 victory at Pairc Tailteann today.

Amy Gaffney opened the scoring for Meath with a point inside 90 seconds and while Dublin replied with a free from Niamh Comerford it was all Meath as they dominated possession and played some nice hurling.

A clever ball across the face of the goals from Claire Coffey led to a sixth minute penalty when Aedin Slattery was fouled and Jane Dolan made no mistake to fire to the net.

Dolan added two more points, one from a free, before the excellent Gaffney added her second to secure that six-point lead at the water break and when play resumed Sinead Hackett extended that advantage when she reacted to Gaffney's attempt which came back off the upright.

Comerford replied with another free, but Meath opened up again with Dolan from a '45' and outstanding scores from the right hand sideline from Tracy King and Aoife Minogue making it 1-8 to 0-2.

Comerford's third point, this time from a '45' kept Dublin in touch, but Gaffney replied with another score for Meath.

However, two minutes into injury-time Nicola Thorn somehow scrambled a goal beyond Maggie Randle and even though Slattery pointed in the last action of the half Meath's lead was down to 1-10 to 1-3.

Kristina Troy was introduced at half-time and made an immediate impact stretching Meath's lead after the restart, but Dublin found another gear and scored three of the next four points with Dolan's point for Meath countered by scores for Comerford, Siobhan Kehoe and Aoife Heffernan to make it 1-6 to 1-12.

Dolan ended an eight minute barren spell with a converted free for Meath and when Gaffney showed the Dublin defence a clean pair of heels to make it 1-14 to 1-6 the hosts were back in control.

A massive free from midfield from Minogue was followed by a tap over for Dolan to put 10 between the teams at the second water break, 1-16 to 1-6, but when play resumed Dublin responded with Ciara Holland (free) and Aoife Deegan pointing.

A Megan Thynne point halted Dublin's momentum, but they found their groove again with Holland converting a free and forcing Randle into a superb save at the expense of a '45' which she converted to close the gap to seven points with 58 minutes played.

However, Meath wrestled back the dominance and closed out the game with late scores from Minogue and Thynne to seal the win.

SCORERS

Meath - Jane Dolan 1-6 1-0 penalty, three frees, one '45'; Amy Gaffney 0-4; Aoife Minogue 0-3 one free; Megan Thynne 0-2; Sinead Hackett 0-1; Aedin Slattery 0-1; Kristina Troy 0-1; Tracy King 0-1.

Dublin - Niamh Comerford 0-4 two frees, one '45'; Nicola Thorn 1-0; Ciara Holland 0-3 two frees, one '45'; Siobhan Kehoe 0-1; Aoife Heffernan 0-1; Aoife Deegan 0-1.

Full match report and reaction in Tuesday's Meath Chronicle.