Costello's stunner boosts Meath to victory

As late dramas go today's clash of Meath and Louth in NFL Div 2 is deserving of an Oscar as the hosts held on for a thrilling 1-11 to 1-9 victory over their Wee neighbours.

It looked like a lost cause for Meath in the 44th minute as they trailed by four points, were playing against the wind and conceded the opening three points of the second period to fall four adrift.

At that stage Meath looked lost, bereft of ideas or any sort of confidence. With their backs to the breeze and chins in their chest they threw caution to the wind and came out fighting - and what a fight.

After Ryan Burns tapped over Louth's ninth point under zero pressure and without a tackle laid on anyone in the build up, Meath looked in big trouble, but then the wheels came off the visitors challenge as they didn't score for another 33 minutes.

In that period Meath were like a team transformed.

The fight that was so badly missing in the opening 40-odd minutes make a welcome appearance. With aggression levels raised and pace injected into attacking moves Meath looked like a totally different side.

Suddenly Louth were the ones who looked leggy, lost and confused. Fifty-Fifty balls started to fall Meath's way, the greater hunger ensured they won the dirty ball and the more creative approach led to decent chances.

Slowly, steadily and without a hint of panic Meath clawed their way back into the game. It was almost as if playing against the breeze suited their approach.

The pressure of getting the ball quickly into the full-forward line was removed. Precision of passing and execution of the basic skills became the focus and Meath were comfortable with that.

Mathew Costello got the recovery going with a free from the edge of the D after Darragh Campion was fouled and two minutes later he executed the pass of the game to pick out Shane Walsh who had a sniff of a goal chance, but settled for the point to make it 0-7 to 0-9.

The introduction of Brian O'Halloran also added impetus to Meath's transition from defence to attack and the gap was down to the minimum in the 49th minute when Cathal Hickey's centre deceived the Louth rearguard and Walsh slotted over.

Louth saw another goal chance go abegging 30 seconds later when Ciaran Keenan's surging run was halted by Sean Brennan and in the 53rd minute another patient move ended with Eoghan Frayne firing over the leveller.

There still looked to be a lot of work for Meath to do to win the game, but they weren't shying away from the hard labour.

A brilliant move involving Costello, Walsh and Hickey ended with Frayne firing his second to give Meath the lead again, 0-10 to 0-9 with 14 minutes of the regulation 70 remaining.

Keenan almost broke Meath hearts but was denied by Sean Coffey's excellent goal line clearance a minute later and Meath almost snatched the opening goal themselves 90 seconds later when Jack O'Connor's point attempt fell short, but Louth cleared the danger.

Another outstanding Meath move extended the lead to two points when Walsh and Ciaran Caulfield set up Daithi McGowan for a fine score as he was falling backwards.

Despite that advantage it still seemed like a goal would be needed to win the game and on the stroke of 70 minutes Costello came up with a moment of magic as he produced a surging run and outstanding finish from a difficult angle to extend Meath's lead to 1-11 to 0-9.

The Meath fans lit a green flare on the terrace beside the stand in celebration, but they had to endure a few nervy moments in the four minutes of injury-time.

Tom Jackson blasted a stunning goal out of nothing from over 20 metres and the deficit was down to two again.

Louth went in search of a winning goal, but on two occasions they were repelled, firstly b y the heroic interventions of the outstanding Donal Keogan and then in the closing action by O'Halloran's clearance that alleviated the pressure and prompted the final whistle.

The scenes of celebration and joy were in start contrast to the opening 44 minutes when Meath were disjointed and lacking purpose.

They actually started well, but kicked five wides in the opening 15 minutes.

Walsh missed a relatively easy chance with the wind behind him in the first minute before Costello opened the scoring from a free two minutes later.

Michael Murphy gave the ball away and allowed Keenan equalise, but Meath's third free-taker from as many frees, Sean Brennan was off target from 47 metres before Walsh did restore Meath's early lead.

Keenan was denied a goal by Brennan in the 14th minute, but from the counter attack Meath couldn't take advantage as Ruairi Kinsella kicked wide.

Conor Grimes almost found the net for Louth at the end of the opening quarter, but Brennan kept out his deflected effort and despite their poor shooting early on Jack O'Connor did manage to stretch Meath's lead to 0-3 to 0-1.

Two well worked scores saw Burns and O'Connor traded scores before some sloppy Meath play was punished by points for Burns and Sam Mulroy (mark) as Louth drew level.

McGowan restored Meath's lead with a mark 10 minutes before the break, but that was Meath's last score in 23 minutes that spanned either half as Louth finished the period on the front foot with points from Conor Early and Mulroy (free) giving them a 0-6 to 0-5 half-time advantage.

Mulroy (free), Burns (after O'Connor lost possession) and that fourth point for Burns which made it 0-9 to 0-5 looked like being enough for Louth, but then Meath cut loose and produced their best spell of football in some time to record their first league win since the second round victory over Clare last year.

SCORERS

Meath - Mathew Costello 1-2 frees; Shane Walsh 0-3; Jack O'Connor 0-2; Daithi McGowan 0-2 one mark; Eoghan Frayne 0-2.

Louth - Ryan Burns 0-4; Sam Mulroy 0-3 two frees, one mark; Tom Jackson 1-0; Conor Early 0-1; Ciaran Keenan 0-1.

TEAM

Meath - Sean Brennan; Donal Keogan, Adam O'Neill, Michael Murphy; Ciaran Caulfield, Darragh Campion, Sean Coffey; Ronan Jones, Cian McBride; Daithi McGowan, Eoghan Frayne, Jack O'Connor; Shane Walsh, Mathew Costello, Ruairi Kinsella. Subs - Cathal Hickey for Kinsella half-time, Brian O'Halloran for Murphy 47m, Danny Dixon for O'Connor, Aaron Lynch for McGowan both 63m, Adam McDonnell for Campion 70m.

Louth - Niall McDonnell; Donal McKenny, Dermot Campbell, Peter Lynch; Conall McKeever, Anthony Williams, Ciaran Murphy; Conor Early, Tommy Durnin; Paul Matthews, Ciaran Keenan, Conor Grimes; Ryan Burns, Sam Mulroy, Ciaran Doewney. Subs - Niall Sharkey for Murphy half-time, Dylan McKeown for Downey 54m, Leonard Grey for Williams 63m, Tom Jackson for Early, Wayne Campbell for Keenan both 68m.

Referee - Liam Devanney (Mayo).