Brave Royals exit u-20 race despite bright start

LEINSTER U-20 HC

Antrim 3-22

Meath 2-10

EANNA MACKEY

Meath's Leinster u-20 HC campaign come to a disappointing end as they were comprehensively beaten by Antrim in St Bridget’s Park, Dowdallshill on Tuesday evening.

The Royals, who were beaten last time out by Westmeath, faced the daunting task of trying to overturn a much-fancied Antrim team who have steamrolled their way past opposition in this year’s Ulster and Leinster Championships.

Antrim senior panellist Joseph McLaughlin got the Saffrons off to the perfect start, rattling over two points inside the opening minute. However, Meath emphatically, through Darren O’Higgins, raised the first of his and the Royal’s two green flags, having been set up by Joey Christie.

The Ulstermen responded with two quickfire white flags through Jack McCloskey and Ben McGarry, but Meath responded in similar fashion with O’Higgins.

The young Kilskyre/Moylagh starlet picked up possession and, with blistering pace, burst through the Saffron defence before burying his shot in the back of the net to have the scoreboard reading 2-0 to 0-4 by the fifth minute.

Three minutes later O’Higgins almost had his hat-trick as Christie tried to set him up again. However, the Rathmolyon man slightly overcooked his pass.

The Ulstermen then took control of the game, scoring four unanswered points to lead 0-8 to 2-0 by the quarter-hour stage. Mark Leavy chipped over Meath’s first point in the 17th minute from a placed ball.

Fiontan Bradley caused the Meath defence huge trouble and had already scored his fifth point by the 21st minute before a George Douglas sideline for the Royals made it 2-2 to 0-11.

Jack McCloskey and Liam Glackin further extended Antrim’s lead before Bradley dealt the Royals a devastating blow on the stroke of half-time.

The young Cushendall man took a close-range free quickly, catching the Meath rearguard unaware, burying his low shot to the back of the net and giving the Ulster Champions a comprehensive 1-13 to 2-2 lead at the interval.

The Royals made a quick start to the second-half as they attempted to make inroads into the eight-point deficit, with Luke Gallagher, Kyle Ennis and Mark Leavy all raising early white flags. However, that was to be as close as they would get as Antrim took complete control.

An Odhran Donnolly point came moments before a 37th-minute Jack McCloskey goal stretched the advantage to nine. The Loughiel man got on the end of a Bradley pass before dispatching his shot to the roof of the net.

From the puck-out, Bradley once again burst through the Meath defence, but his shot was well saved by Brendan Smith.

Donnolly and Aodhan McGarry added two further scores before Kyle Ennis raised Meath’s fourth white flag of the half.

Antrim’s power and slickness was evident as the game opened up, and a spectacular third goal put the result to bed by the 43rd minute as Thomas McLaughlin set up his namesake Joseph, who rifled his shot to the top corner as the Saffrons led 3-16 to 2-6.

Bradley, Sean McKay and Ronan Fitzgerald added further points before George Douglas tacked one on for the Royals.

Bradley saw another goal chance snuffed out by Smith in the 51st minute before Cormac Slattery added another for Meath as the scoreboard read 3-19 to 2-8.

As the clock ticked down, Meath went in search of a consolation goal, and both Luke O’Halloran and Mark Leavy saw their efforts well blocked by Eoghan Richmond in the Antrim goal.

Kyle Ennis added another placed ball for the Royals between points from Luke McFerron, Jack McCloskey and Odhran O’Connor as Antrim ran out comfortable victors and maintained their unbeaten record in this year’s championship.

The result marks an end for a disappointing campaign for the Royals. However, Antrim have a preliminary quarter-final against Dublin to look forward to next week.

Antrim – Eoghan Richmond; Malachi McGibbon, Ben McGarry (0-1), Darragh Patterson; Calum McIlwaine, Liam Glackin (0-1), Ben O’Kane; Sean McKay (0-2), Joseph McLaughlin (1-2); Cormac McKeown, Thomas McLaughlin, Jack McCloskey (1-4); Fiontan Bradley (1-8, one '65', four frees), Oran Donnelly (0-2), Aodhan McGarry (0-1). Subs – Malachi McGibbin for Magee 22m, Cormac McKeown for A McGarry 46m.

Meath – Brendan Smith; Darragh Fay, Cian Colhun, Brian Stagg; Paul Hennessy, Anthony Healy, Cormac Slattery (0-1); Darragh Heffernan, George Douglas (0-1 sideline); Tiernan Anderson, Mark Leavy (0-2 frees), Fergal Flynn; Joey Christie, Kyle Ennis (0-4 three frees), Darren O’Higgins (2-0). Subs – Luke Gallagher (0-1) for Anderson 18m, Rian Fay for Flynn 42m, Eoin Bright for Slattery 56m.

Referee – Dean Alford (Dublin).