No semi-final for Meath as Cork claim the spoils

Meath's bid for a place in the National Camogie League Div 2 semi-finals ended in disappointment today as they were beaten 0-7 to 2-12 by Cork.

With Wexford already assured of their place in the last four, this clash in Navan was a straight shootout to determine who would advance to the last four.

Cork opened the scoring after 40 seconds with Joanne Casey landed a cracking free into the wind from a difficult angle.

Meath responded from the puck out with a great point from their best player Aoife Minogue, but that was as good as it got for Brendan Skehan's side.

It took Cork another six minutes before the added to their opening score and when it came it was from Meath's failure to clear their lines properly which allowed Casey burst through the heart of the defence and fire to the net.

Casey added two more frees either side of a score for Clodagh Finn as Cork stretched their lead to 1-4 to 0-1 after 15 minutes.

Minogue settled Meath with her second free, Meath first score in 15 minutes and five minutes later Aoife Maguire converted after the Royals had turned over a Cork puck out.

Two points from Hayley Ryan sandwiched a converted free from Sinead Hackett after Minogue was fouled before Minogue added another free two minutes before the break to close the gap to 0-5 to 1-6 at the interval.

It took Cork two minutes to stretch their lead in the second-half when Rachel Harty pointed and by the 40th minute they put the issue beyond doubt with Casey adding two more points (one from a free) before another defensive mix-up allowed Rachel O'Shea bag a simple goal for a 2-9 to 0-5 lead.

Both sides emptied their bench in the final quarter as Meath went in search of a goal which might have given them a glimmer of hope. One such attempt was deflected for a '45' which Minogue lofted over and with nine minutes remaining Amy Gaffney made it 0-7 to 2-9 with Meath's closing score.

Try as they might Meath couldn't muster a goal as Cork hit them on the counter three times with Casey (free), O'Shea and Moira Barrett adding to their tally to ensure the visitors advanced to the last four while Meath must turn their attentions to the Leinster Championship.

SCORERS

Cork - Joanne Casey 1-6 five frees; Rachel O'Shea 1-1; Hayley Ryan 0-2; Clodagh Finn 0-1; Rachel Harty 0-1; Moira Barrett 0-1.

Meath - Aoife Minogue 0-4 two frees, one '45'; Aoife Maguire 0-1; Sinead Hackett 0-1 free; Amy Gaffney 0-1.

FULL MATCH REPORT, DETAILS AND PHOTOGRAPHS IN TUESDAY'S MEATH CHRONICLE