Late goals give Royals much needed boost

Minors provide shining light following week of woe

THERE was drama galore late on as Meath struck for two goals to salvage a richly deserved victory and a place in the quarter finals of the Leinster MFC on a 2-9 to 1-7 scoreline at Pairc Mhuire Ardee this evening, writes Sean Wall.

However there was much more at stake for Meath following the disappointing exit of the senior and under-20 teams from their respective provincial championships.

Victory was imperative from a morale viewpoint for the county and Stephen Morgan’s side produced the goods in terrific fashion to put one over their near neighbours.

It was anything but a classic for long spells and Louth held a slender 1-7 to 0-9 advantage with less than five minutes of normal time remaining. There didn’t seem much danger when Cian Commons miscued a point effort but the ball bounced awkwardly around the Louth goalmouth and substitute Liam Jennings pounced to finish to the net.

The Blackhall Gaels club man had only entered the fray minutes earlier but was on hand to apply the finishing touch on 56 minutes. The drama didn’t end there as Louth immediately went on the attack and Pearse Grimes-Murphy and Shane Lennon combined to set up Lorcan Buckley but he was denied by an excellent save from Meath keeper Braden Colfer.

Louth squandered another chance after that and the game was in the second minute of added time when another sub Ben Corkery wrapped it up for the visitors with their second goal, a coolly taken effort from the penalty spot after a Louth defender was adjudged to have touched the ball on the ground.

When the counties clashed in last year’s under-16 Gerry Reilly Cup final Louth had 11 points to spare but there was a lot more tenacity about Meath’s play on this occasion as they rarely allowed the hosts settle into the game.

The was little to choose between the teams throughout the opening half and at half-time it was the home side who edged the exchanges as they led 0-5 to 0-4.

An Oisin O’Neill point had the teams’ level for the fifth time on 37 minutes after Thomas Sheridan was unfortunate to see an effort crash off the crossbar.

Adam Gillespie, who was Louth’s go-to forward throughout, finally put daylight between the teams for the first time when he got behind the Meath cover and finished to the net on 44 minutes.

Louth though were unable to build on that lead and Meath hit back with four successive points (three frees) from John Harkin to lead by the 52nd minute.

Gillespie took his tally to 1-6 as he regained the lead for Louth but the Wee County had no answer to Meath’s late flourish.

Eamon Armstrong played a captain’s part for Meath throughout while Naoise Maguire, Cormac Liggan, Thomas Sheridan, Cian Commons and John Harkin were also excellent in what was overall a really spirited display.

SCORERS

Meath – John Harkin 0-6 four frees; Liam Jennings 1-0; Ben Corkery 1-0 pen; Cian Commons 0-1; Oisin O’Neill 0-1; Oisin Yore 0-1.

Louth – Adam Gillespie 1-6 four frees; Micheál Reid 0-1.

TEAMS

Meath- Braden Colfer; Cormac Liggan, Tom Lenehan, Thomas Sheridan; Naoise Maguire, John Gormley, Oisín O'Neill; Eamon Armstrong, Michael McIvor; Pat Crawley, Billy Smyth, David Donnelly; John Harkin, Cian Commons, Cian Duggan. Subs – Oisin Yore for McIvor 18 mins, Ben Corkery for Smyth 34m, Rory Crawley for P Crawley 47m, Liam Jennings for Donnelly 53m, Oliver Maloney for Duggan 56m, Cillian Yore for Harkin 62m.

Louth - Tiernan Markey; Cian Farrell, Ciarán McGinty, Keelin Martin; Micheál Reid, Pádraig Tinnelly, Cormac McKeown; Conor McGinty, Lorcan Buckley; Seán Flynn, Evan McCloskey, Pearse Grimes-Murphy; Adam Gillespie, Josh Taaffe, Shane Lennon. Subs – Tony McDonnell for McKeown 24 mins, Liam Brannigan for Flynn, half-time, Dylan Shevlin for McCloskey 45m, Paddy McHugh for Taaffe 50m.

Referee – Dan Stynes (Dublin).