Cillian O'Sullivan celebrates after bagging Meath's third goal...PHOTOS by GERRY SHANAHAN/WWW.SPORTINMOTION.IE

Impressive Meath rally to down Rebels

Whatever was said in the dressing rooms at half-time certainly had the desired effect as Meath produced an excellent performance to open their NFL Div 2 campaign with a 3-14 to 0-19 victory over Cork in Pairc Ui Chaoimh today.

Trailing by 1-6 to 0-11 at the break and guilty of some sloppy, ill-disciplined defending Meath looked a totally different outfit after the interval as they outscored Cork by 2-8 to 0-8 with the goals obviously proving decisive.

Ultimately the four-point margin of victory flatters Cork because Meath were vastly superior in the second-half as their high pressing, greater intensity and fast-paced attacking style put the hosts on the backfoot.

Meath fortunate to only conceded 11 points in the opening half. The gifted Sherlock five points from frees and two from play. The Cork dangerman also converted a '45' after the threatening Mattie Taylor had a goalbound shot deflected off target.

Meath looked stretched and scored just once in the opening 16 and a half minutes as Shane Walsh's goal kept them in a game that looked to be getting away from them.

However once they got into the dressing room and nerves were calmed by Colm O'Rourke and his management team, Meath were much more effective and disciplined as they limited Cork to just three points from play in the second period.

It had looked set to be a difficult afternoon for Meath as Cork dominated the early proceedings.

Sherlock converted two frees early on before Walsh gave Meath a lead they scarcely deserved in the seventh minute with a well-executed goal.

Cork didn't panic and as Meath struggled to make in-roads going forward they were stretched in defence as Sherlock, Taylor, Maurice Shanley and Chris Og Jones all pointed from play to leave it 0-6 to 1-0 by the 16th minute.

Mathew Costello fired Meath's first point a minute later, but Cork continued to look threatening with Taylor going close to finding the net before Sherlock landed the subsequent '45'.

Two pointed frees from Walsh, one of which was awarded after he claimed a mark and the Cork defence didn't retreat so referee Brendan Cawley moved it in, closed the deficit to the minimum, but Cork kept Meath at arms length with another Sherlock frees.

Points from Cillian O'Sullivan and a Costello free from the right drew Meath level, 1-5 to 0-8, but Sherlock landed two more frees and one from play while Darragh Campion had a shot blocked and Jordan Morris's follow up was scooped away by Micheal Martin.

Walsh did pull one back before the break, but Meath looked in trouble and were fortunate to be just 1-6 to 0-11 adrift at the interval.

However, Meath were transformed after the resumption and within three minutes they were level with Walsh (free) and Morris on the mark.

Cork replied with points from play from Jones and Sean Powter, either side of a Sherlock free to move 0-14 to 1-8 clear again, but then Meath took over.

Walsh launched the recovery with a point from play and a minute later, in the 53rd minute, Jason Scully did brilliantly to set up Morris for a simple goal, suddenly Meath were 2-9 to 0-14 ahead and they never looked back.

Two more points from Walsh (one from a mark) sandwiched a superb score from Jack O'Connor as Meath stretched their advantage.

Sherlock kept Cork ticking over with another free, but in the 62nd minute Donal Keogan released O'Sullivan who took a generous amount of steps before unleashing a brilliant shot to the back of the net to put the game to bed, 3-12 to 0-15.

Cork did look threatening once or twice, but Harry Hogan did well to hold them at bay.

Cathal Hickey and Morris added to Meath's tally as all Cork could muster were three more converted frees and one from play from Sherlock and there was no way back and the Royals held on to get their campaign off to a winning start.

SCORERS

Meath - Shane Walsh 1-7 three frees, one mark; Jordan Morris 1-2; Cillian O'Sullivan 1-1; Mathew Costello 0-2 one free; Cathal Hickey 0-1; Jack O'Connor 0-1.

Cork - Steven Sherlock 0-14 12 frees; Chris Jones 0-2; Sean Powter 0-1; Mattie Taylor 0-1; Maurice Shanley 0-1.

TEAMS

Meath - Harry Hogan; James O'Hare, Michael Flood, Cathal Hickey; Eoin Harkin, Donal Keogan, Daniel O'Neill; Ronan Jones, Daithi McGowan; Cillian O'Sullivan, Jason Scully, Darragh Campion; Jordan Morris, Mathew Costello, Shane Walsh. Subs - Adam O'Neill for D O'Neill half-time, Jack O'Connor for Harkin, Harry O'Higgins for O'Hare both 48mins, Shane Crosby for O'Sullivan 65m.

Cork - Micheal Martin; Maurice Shanley, Daniel O'Mahony, Kevin O'Donovan; Sean Meehan, Rory Maguire, Mattie Taylor; Colm O'Callaghan, Ian Maguire; Eoghan McSweeney, Sean Powter, Brian O'Driscoll; Chris Og Jones, Brian Hurley, Steven Sherlock. Subs - Tommy Walsh for O'Donovan 43 mins, John O'Rourke for McSweeney 52m, Luke Fahy for R Maguire 54m, Cathail O'Mahony for Hurley 60m, Ruairi Deane for Powter 65m.

Referee - Brendan Cawley (Kildare).