Meath stumble to draw against Down

It's becoming an all too familiar trend as once again Meath produced another desperately disappointing NFL Div 2 performance and were held to a 2-6 to 2-6 draw by Down at Pairc Tailteann today to end any outside hopes of promotion and remain in the relegation mire.

In the end Meath were fortunate to escape with a point as Caolan Mooney saw a late, late fisted attempt come back off the crossbar four minutes into injury that would have won the game for the Ulster men.

Just before that missed opportunity Mooney was also denied a certain goal by a brilliant intervention from Padraic Harnan which took the ball off the Down man's toes.

Those two chances could have made Meath's afternoon even worse than it was and maybe when the points are being tallied at the end of the campaign this draw might turn out to be a welcome one in the battle against the drop.

It had looked good for Meath when they trailed by just three points at the break after playing into the teeth of a howling gale.

Goals from Robin Clarke and Jason Scully twice put Meath in an unlikely driving seat against the wind, but on both occasions they conceded goals within two minutes as Down opened that 2-6 to 2-3 interval cushion.

As Meath turned for the second-half with the wind at their backs there was an expectation that they would quickly turnover that deficit and kick on to a comfortable win.

However, the exciting and almost thrill-a-minute football of the opening half was replaced by disjointed, error-ridden and depressing football after the break as Meath never adapted to the terrible conditions.

Jordan Morris's late free from the sideline in front of the stand summed up the second-half display as the wind caught hold of his kick and the ball ended up going out over the same sideline much to the disbelief of the crowd.

Despite the difficult conditions Meath have only themselves to blame as they failed to score from play with the wind behind them and looked bereft of ideas and short on confidence to simply 'have a go'.

It had started well for Meath with Harry Hogan striding forward from goals to land a difficult free into the wind and open the scoring.

Pat Havern responded for Down 30 seconds later, but when another free opportunity presented itself for Meath three minutes later Hogan again converted to make it 0-2 to 0-1.

Successive points from Havern, who used the wind well to execute the scores, edged Down in front for the first time, but in the 12th minute a brilliant move involving Thomas O'Reilly and Morris ended with Clarke finishing brilliantly to the net.

The madcap nature of the contest continued when a rare mistake by Donal Keogan gifted Down possession and they took full advantage with Anthony Doherty, Havern and Jack McCarten combining to set up Andrew Gilmore for a fine goal.

Gilmore stretched Down's lead with a point from a mark, but again Meath knitted together an excellent move against the wind with Scully playing a neat one-two with Matt Costello before firing to the net to make it 2-2 to 1-4.

Seconds later O'Reilly rattled the crossbar and Scully was wide from the follow up and Down took advantage of that let off when Odhran Murdock won a Meath kickout and released Havern to beat Hogan at his near post with a rasping drive.

Gilmore had a great chance to add a third goal for Down, but he fired straight at Hogan and in the 28th minute Meath closed the gap with Shane Walsh scoring their only point from play.

Gilmore replied with a pointed free and five minutes before the break Darren O'Hagan stretched Down's lead to 2-6 to 2-3 with what proved to be his side's last score.

Three minutes after the restart Costello couldn't connect to Morris's centre and the goal chance went abegging and it took almost six minutes before Walsh got Meath moving with a point from a free.

Meath coughed up chance after chance as they struggled to breakdown the Ulstermen's well marshalled rearguard and it wasn't until the 48th minute that they closed the gap to the minimum with a Morris free.

However more chances came and went as Hogan hit the upright from a free and Morris was denied a goal by a good save from Rory Burns. Hogan arrowed the resultant '45' wide.

Walsh was also off target from a 35 metre free before Morris levelled the game from a free with 10 minutes plus injury-time remaining.

However the winner wouldn't come for the hosts and it was Down who went closest to snatching the victory with Mooney denied by Harnan and the bar as the teams had to settle for a point apiece after one of the worst second-halves of football seen in Pairc Tailteann in many many years.

SCORERS

Meath - Robin Clarke 1-0; Jason Scully 1-0; Harry Hogan 0-2 frees; Shane Walsh 0-2 one frees; Jordan Morris 0-2 frees.

Down - Pat Havern 1-3; Andrew Gilmore 1-2 one free, one mark; Darren O'Hagan 0-1.

TEAMS

Meath - Harry Hogan; Robin Clarke, Eoin Harkin, Jordan Muldoon; Cathal Hickey, Shane McEntee, Donal Keogan; Padraic Harnan, Ronan Jones; Ethan Devine, Thomas O'Reilly, Matt Costello; Jordan Morris, Shane Walsh, Jason Scully. Subs - Cillian O'Sullivan for Scully 45 mins, Eamon Wallace for Wallace 61m, Jack O'Connor for O'Reilly 65m, Bryan McMahon for Walsh 70m.

Down - Rory Burns; Peter Fegan, Finn McElroy, Gerard Collins; Darren O'Hagan, Niall McPartland, Caolan Mooney; Anthony Doherty, Odhran Murdock; Liam Kerr, Pat Havern, Ruairi McCormack; Conor Poland, Andrew Gilmore, Jack McCartan. Subs - Barry O'Hagan for McCartan 20 mins, Pierce Laverty for McCormack 28m, Kevin McKernan for Haveran 41m, Adam Lynch for Collins 57m, Cory Quinn for B O'Hagan 63m.

Referee - Noel Mooney (Cavan).