Wicklow all but end Royals hopes of Christy Ring glory

Meath's hopes of Christy Ring Cup glory took a major blow on Saturday when Wicklow comfortably got the better of the Royals in Aughrim

Wicklow 3-17

Meath 0-16

Meath's hopes of claiming the Christy Ring Cup glory are now very slim after Wicklow found the back of the Royals' net three times and maintained their unbeaten record in Aughrim on Saturday afternoon.

Meath now need a win over Donegal, Tyrone to beat London and Wicklow to beat Derry in order to qualify for the Christy Ring Cup final.

No doubt, Wicklow were the better team on the day and Meath will be quite disappointed with their performance. Perhaps a strong showing in Celtic Park two weeks ago had led to a bit of complacency creeping into the minds of men in green and gold.

Invidually, there were some very good performances for Meath, but unfortunately, that was coupled with some abysmal individual showings. As a collective, the Royals lacked intensity in the first-half to kick on when they did have momentum and they lacked urgency in the second-half to try and claw their way back into contention.

After 32 minutes, Meath led by 0-9 to 1-4 and looked comfortable. At that stage, you would have bet your house that Meath would kick on and get the better of Wicklow relatively easily.

However, seized momentum at the end of the half and hit 1-3 without reply to lead by four at the interval. Wicklow then hit the first five points of the second-half and in the 56th minute, Padraig Doyle put the nail in the coffin with Wicklow's third goal.

Nicky Potterton and Damien Healy got Meath off to a good start with two points in quick succession. Wicklow's first score was an early blow for the Royals. Marc Lennon burst through the Meath defence before he set up John Toomey who found the back of Colm O'Riordan's net.

The sides then traded two blows a piece as Healy and Jack Regan got Meath's third and fourth point. After 10 minutes, Wicklow held a narrow 1-2 to 0-4 lead.

Kris Gorman drew the sides level before Potterton edged the Royals in front with a fantastic point despite being fouled multiple times on his way to splitting the posts.

Padraig Doyle, who finished with 1-7, knocked over his first free to pull one back for Wicklow, before three Regan scores in a row, one from play, one from a free and one from a 65', handed Meath a 0-9 to 1-4 advantage.

Unfortunately, that was as good as it got for Meath in the first-half as Wicklow seized momentum and hit 1-3 in succession. Points from Ronan McMahon, Lennon and Doyle were boosted by a second Toomey goal and the Garden County went in at half-time with their tails up. They led 2-7 to 0-9 at the interval.

Johnny Greville made two changes at the break, but the Westmeath native did not get the immediate response that he wanted as Wicklow rattled off the first five scores of the second-half.

McMahon stretched the lead to five before Doyle hit two frees, either side of points for Jack Phelan and Seanie Germaine. Potterton and Joey Cole pulled two points back for the Royals, but those scores were almost immediately cancelled out by Germaine and Doyle.

Regan kept plugging away, the Kiltale man hit a free and a 65' to reduce the gap back to seven with 15 minutes left. Meath were then hit with a sucker blow when Phelan put a good ball into the danger area. Doyle jumped highest and made no mistake with the finish, which provided Wicklow with their third goal and a 10-point lead.

Points from James Murray and Regan were cancelled out by scores from Doyle and Davey Maloney as Wicklow maintained their double-figure advantage. Boyle extended that gap to 3-17 to 0-15 with his fifth free.

After receiving a first caution for a loose flick of the hurl, Murray received his marching orders when he struck back in response to a strike from Warren Kavanagh. Kavanagh was shown a yellow for his role in the incident.

Lorcan Byrne reduced the gap back to 10 on the cusp of injury time, but that score was nothing more than a consolation as the Royals' faith was sealed long before Padraig Dunne had blown his final whistle.

Wicklow - Conor McNally; Ben Kearney, Andrew Kavanagh, Ian Clancy; Tommy Collins, Padraig Doran (0-1 one 65'), Sam O'Dowd; Luke Evans, John Toomey (2-0); Jack Phelan (0-1), Mark Lennon (0-2), Ronan McMahon (0-2); Eoin McCormack, Padraig Doyle (1-7, five free), Jack Doyle (0-1). Subs - Seanie Germaine (0-2) for Doyle 21m, Davey Moloney (0-1) for Lennon 49m, Warren Kavanagh for McCormack 60m.

Meath - Colm O'Riordan; Kyle Donnelly, James Toher, David Murtagh; Joey Cole (0-1), Simon Ennis, Darragh Kelly; Michael Burke, Sean Coloe; Damien Healy (0-2), Kris Gorman (0-1), Cian Rogers; Loran Byrne (0-1), Jack Regan (0-7 two free, three 65'), Nicky Potterton (0-3). Subs - James Murray (0-1) for Murtagh, Darren O'Higgins for Rogers both half-time, Sean Quigley for Donnelly 46m, Padraig O'Hanrahan for Ennis 58m.

Referee - Padraig Dunne (Laois).