Meath open Ring Cup campaign with hard earned win

It was always expected to be tough, and that's exactly how it transpired for Meath as they edged out Mayo by 2-20 to 0-24 to open their Christy Ring Cup campaign with victory at Pairc Tailteann today.

Not many outside of Meath and Mayo gave the Div 3A mid-table side much of a chance coming to Navan, but having reached the Christy Ring Cup final last year they were a dangerous opposition and Meath could never shake them off.

Mayo also included seven of the Toureen side that reached the All-Ireland Club IHC final.

First-half goals from Eamon O Donnchadha and a brilliant improvised finish from Jack Regan proved decisive and allowed Meath keep their visitors at arms length.

There were times in the second-half when Mayo looked capable of springing a surprise.

Between the 38th and 47th minute they hit four points in succession to close the gap to the minimum, 0-17 to 2-12. Meath looked rattled and Mayo had their tails up.

However, composure is one of this Meath side's great traits and they showed it in buckets again as they hit five of the next seven points to put a bit of daylight between the teams again.

Mayo did responded impressively to close to 0-22 to 2-17, but Meath settled again and showed that calmness under pressure to see out the game without allowing Mayo a serious look at Charlie Ennis's goals.

It was that defensive soundness that provided the platform for Meath to succeed.

Mayo scored five goals on two occasions in Div 3A of the league, but they never looked like finding a way through Meath's solid defensive plan, but they were capable of striking some brilliant points from distance with Joe McManus, Fergal Boland and Michael Farrell lofting over some monster scores.

Meath were well capable of producing a worldie or two themselves with Regan and Podge O'Hanrahan firing over from near impossible angles.

For all their great scores Mayo were reliant by the excellent free-taking of Cormac Phillips and while some of the decisions that went against Meath were of the 'soft' variety Phillips punished them impressively.

The early indications were that this was going to be tight. Even when Meath got the upperhand with six first quarter points Mayo kept responding well.

After both of Meath's goals Mayo replied with the next score. They were tenacious and dogged and never gave up, but Meath were the superior side and claimed their deserved spoils.

Right from the off, Meath's precise passing and swift movement caused problems with James Kelly opening the scoring after two minutes.

O Donnchadha doubled the advantage 30 seconds later, but an indication of Mayo's determination came in the fifth minute when Cormac Phillips opened his account with one of his two scores from play.

Regan and Cormac Phillips traded frees before a '65' from Regan, after O'Hanrahan had a goal chance saved by Bobby Douglas, and scores from Kelly and Mikey Cole made it 0-6 to 0-2.

Three points from Cormac Phillips (two frees) narrowed the gap to one, but Meath were never headed as O'Hanrahan, James Toher and Martin Healy combined to set up O'Donnchadha for the opening goal which made it 1-6 to 0-5 in the 23rd minute.

McManus and Fergal Boland responded for Mayo, but two frees from Regan sandwiched a Jason Coyne point as Meath moved 1-8 to 0-8 ahead.

Adrian Phillips and McManus closed the gap to the minimum, but Meath's second goal edged them clear as O Donnchadha forced the turn-over and Regan turned on a sixpence to apply the finish to the net, 2-8 to 0-10.

The sides shared the final six points of the half as two frees from Cormac Phillips and one from McManus were countered by two points from Regan (one free and one monster score from play) and one from Sean Geraghty to give the Royals a 2-11 to 0-13 interval lead.

Regan stretched Meath's lead within a minute of the restart, but Mayo refused to lie down as Fergal Boland, Eoin Delaney and two frees from Cormac Phillips closed the gap to 0-17 to 2-12.

With the smell of an upset in the air Meath hit five of the next seven scores with two huge frees from Regan, a superb brace from O'Hanrahan, including a magnificent no-look score from in front of the stand, and one from O Donnchadha countering scores from Delaney and Cormac Phillips (free) to make it 2-17 to 0-19 with 12 minutes left.

However Mayo then fired over three-in-a-row with Michael Farrell landing two after another Cormac Phillips free to close the gap to the minimum.

A superb score from Regan off his left while losing his footing settled Meath again and while Mayo did manage two more points from Cormac Phillips frees it was Meath who held off the challenge with scores from Regan and Simon Ennis to get their Ring Cup campaign off to a winning start.

SCORERS

Meath - Jack Regan 1-11 seven frees, one '65'; Eamon O Donnchdha 1-2; Podge O'Hanrahan 0-2; James Kelly 0-2; Mikey Cole 0-1; Sean Geraghty 0-1; Simon Ennis 0-1.

Mayo - Cormac Phillips 0-13 11 frees; Joe McManus 0-3; Fergal Boland 0-2; Eoin Delaney 0-2; Michael Farrell 0-2; Jason Coyne 0-1; Adrian Phillips 0-1.

TEAMS

Meath - Charlie Ennis; Gery Dwane, Shane Brennan, Brendan McKeon; Niall McLarnon, James Toher, Simon Ennis; Sean Geraghty, Martin Healy; Stephen Morris, Jack Regan, James Kelly; Mikey Cole, Eamon Og O Donnchadha, Padraig O'Hanrahan. Subs - Daire Shine for Morris 40 mins, Tom Shine for Cole 57m, Conor Shirren for Kelly 61m, Paddy Barnwell for Healy 65m, Evan Fitzgerald for O'Hanrahan 73m.

Mayo - Bobby Douglas; James Lyons, Ger McManus, Conor Murray; David Kenny, Joe Mooney, Danny Hill; Daniel Huane, Cormac Phillips; Sean Kenny, Fergal Boland, Adrian Phillips; Jason Coyne, Eoin Delaney, Shane Boland. Subs - Joe McManus for S Boland 10 mins, Michael Farrell for Kenny 43m, James Murphy for Hill 54m, Keelan Gallagher

Referee - Caymon Flynn (Westmeath).