Faithful dismantle disappointing Meath

Anton O'Neill's side were soundly defeated by Offaly on Saturday in Trim

Offaly 3-15

Meath 0-11

A sharp Offaly outfit dismantled Meath with relative ease in the second-half of this All-Ireland ICC clash at Trim on Saturday. Played in tough conditions, Meath never really seized any momentum and the Faithful secured a comfortable victory.

The lack of intensity from the Royals attack coupled with a defence that struggled to deal with the likes of Grace Teehan and Clodagh Leehy led to Offaly being able to pull away on the scoreboard. There were some positive signs from the Royals in the first-half but the second-half showing was poor.

There were some good individual performances for Meath though. Amy Gaffney caused a fair few issues for the Offaly defence when she got on the ball and ran. Brodie Kelly was very good in the second-half and she notched two points for herself. Grace Connolly and Sophia Payne can hold their heads high after they both put in solid shifts in the green and gold.

Right from the get-go, Meath were under the cosh and found themselves 0-7 to 0-1 down after 18 minutes. The Royals then got their act together and closed out the half by outscoring Offaly 0-4 to 0-1 which reduced the Faithful's lead back to three before the interval.

Early on in the second-half, Offaly hit 1-4 without reply to put the pressure firmly back on Meath. A second Faithful goal in the 48th minute courtesy of Sharon Shanahan was the killer blow and when Leahy scored Offaly's third, the game had long gotten away from the Royals.

Aoife Carey got Meath underway with a free in the first minute but that was the last time that Meath had their noses in front as Offaly seized control and hit 0-7 on the spin in the next 15 minutes. Four of these scores were frees hit by sharpshooter Clodagh Leahy and Grace Teehan hit a brace of points.

Eventually, the rut was stopped when Amy Gaffney ran at the Offaly defence and tapped over before Grace Connolly added her name to the scoresheet. Two Aoife Carey dead-ball scores came either side of Offaly's only score in the final 10 minutes of the first half which was hit by Mairead Teehan after she intercepted a Meath puck-out. At the break of play, Offaly led 0-8 to 0-5.

Within a minute of the restart, Meath reduced the gap back to two through Connolly but again Offaly seized momentum and put Meath to the sword by hitting 1-4 on the spin. The Faithful's goal came from a long ball into the danger zone by Leahy and Kate Pilkington got a vital touch to guide the sliotar past Tara Murphy.

Points from Carey and Kelly gave Meath some hope but that was soon dashed when Shanahan found the back of the Meath net for Offaly's second goal.

Offaly stretched their lead further with scores from Faye Mulrooney and Teehan. A third Faithful goal which came straight from a Leahy free was the final nail in the coffin for the Royals. Gaffney and Kelly hit a couple of late points but it was too little too late for Anton O'Neill's side as they were soundly defeated in round two of the ICC group stage.

Offaly - Leah Gallagher; Megan King, Amy Byrne, Kaitlyn Kennedy; Hannah Feenane, Orlagh Phelan, Roisin Kinsella; Clodagh Leahy (1-5 frees), Sharon Shanahan (1-0); Grace Teehan (0-6 one free), Caoimhe O'Donovan, Kate Pilkington (1-1); Mairead Teehan (0-2), Faye Mulrooney (0-1), Fianait Dooley. Subs - Ciara Maher for O'Donovan 33m, Niamh Sheehy for Mulrooney 51m, Aoife Hoctor for Pilkington 59m.

Meath - Tara Murphy; Laura O'Neill, Claire Coffey, Sophia Payne; Leah Devine, Maeve Clince, Ciara Foley; Rachel O'Neill, Amy Gaffney (0-1); Isabel O'Connor, Aoife Carey (0-6 two frees, one '45'), Grace Connolly (0-2); Emma Regan, Erin Leddy, Katie Connolly. Subs - Brodie Kelly (0-2) for L O'Neill half-time, Tracey King for O'Connor 48m, Ellen Burke for Murphy 51m, Grace Coleman for Carey 54m.

Referee - Philip McDonald (Cavan)