Impressive Meath make it two from two in Kehoe Cup

Landslide wins over Down are rare, so it was a huge step in the right direction for Meath at Dunganny today as they secured their second successive Kehoe Cup win with a comfortable 2-24 to 1-16 victory over the Mourne men.

Meath certainly won't be getting carried away by their convincing victory over an understrength Down side, but there were plenty of positives to suggest that things are looking up after a tough 2022.

However there were also a few cautionary tales from today's win. At one stage Meath looked to be cruising to victory when leading by 0-9 to 0-4 after 21 minutes following superb contributions from the excellent Niall McLarnon, who scored three fine points in that spell, and from Nicky Potterton, Simon Ennis and Sean Quigley (four points, two frees) who were also on target.

Simon Ennis gathers possession for Meath. PHOTO GERRY SHANAHAN/WWW.SPORTINMOTION.IE

However, the hosts failed to score for the following 11 minutes as Down went on the rampage and scored at ease with Paul Sheehan claiming 1-2 and Tim Prenter, Ronan Blaire and Matt Conlon (two) lofting over points to turn their five-point deficit into a 1-10 to 0-9 lead by the 32nd minute.

James Kelly ended Meath's barren spell and sparked a recovery that saw Cian Rogers, Kyle Donnelly and Potterton also on target as the Royals rallied to restore parity by half-time, 0-13 to 1-10.

Ruairi McCrickard restored Down's lead two minutes after the restart with a converted free, but that was their last score until McCrickard landed another free 24 minutes later, but by that stage the game was effectively over as Meath assumed control.

Action from today's Kehoe Cup game in Dunganny. PHOTO GERRY SHANAHAN/WWW.SPORTINMOTION.IE

The outstanding McLarnon was fouled for the penalty which lead to James Toher's settling goal in the 40th minute and with the Trim man in magnificent form at the heart of Meath's defence the Royals never looked back.

McLarnon added another point before Toher converted a free to make it 1-15 to 1-11.

Two more frees from Quigley were followed by points from McLarnon and Damien Healy as Meath stretched clear, but they were also wasteful in attack, finishing with 16 wides and they also hit the crossbar with McLarnon's effort unlucky to stay out of the net.

Kelly and McLarnon added to Meath's tally before McCrickard's second point of the half for Down. Potterton exchanged points with Ryan McCusker (Down only score from play in the second-half) and after Podge O'Hanrahan and McCrickard traded frees with was McLarnon who capped his sublime performance with his side's second goal to make it 2-23 to 1-14 in the 70th minute.

McCrickard did hit two more frees, one either side of a point from O'Hanrahan, but Meath were home and dry by that stage and can look forward to the next outing away to Carlow on Sunday 22nd January.

Meath - Charlie Ennis; Ger Dwane, Adam O'Connor, Brendan McKeon; Kyle Donnelly (0-1), James Toher (1-1 1-0 penalty, one free), James Kelly (0-2); Sean Geraghty, Pa Ryan; Simon Ennis (0-1), Sean Quigley (0-6 four frees), Niall McLarnon (1-6); Nicky Potterton (0-3), Damien Healy (0-1), Cian Rogers (0-1). Subs - Padraic O'Hanrahan (0-2 one free) for Quigley 57 mins, Paddy Barnwell for Donnelly 58m, Mikey Cole for Ryan, Daire Shine for Potterton, Evan Fitzgerald for S Ennis all 67m, Tom Shine for McLarnon, Martin Healy for Toher 69m.

Down - Stephen Keith; Tom Murray, Barry Trainor, Declan McCartney; Niall McFarland, John McManus, Jason Croskery; Matt Conlon (0-3), Ruairi McCrickard (0-7 five frees); Padraig Doran, Paul Sheehan (1-3 two frees), Ronan Blair (0-1); Jordan Doran, Chris Egan, Tim Prenter (0-1). Subs - Sean Campbell, for Murray 20 mins, Ryan McCusker (0-1) for Sheehan, Marc Fisher for McFarland, Caolan Teggart for McManus all half-time, Finn Turpin for J Doran, Tom McGrattan for Savage both 48m

Referee - Matthew Redmond (Kildare).