Gutsy young Royals fall just short in Kehoe opener

Despite the result Johnny Greville can be particularly pleased with Meath's second-half performance against Down on Sunday.

Down 1-15

Meath 0-16

Johnny Greville’s young Meath side put in a superb second-half performance but came up just short in their opening Kehoe cup clash with Down in Dunganny on Sunday.

A Down goal in the first minute proved to be the difference between the sides as the Royals battled hard and reduced a 14-point deficit at the interval back to two by the final whistle.

Meath fielded a very fresh-looking young side and that lack of experience was evident in the first-half as Down with the wind at their back dominated proceedings in the opening 30 minutes.

It took the Royals 15 minutes to register a score, and by half-time, they had only increased that tally by one. When Meath started to gel and settle, they rattled off some fine scores. From a defensive perspective, Johnny Greville can be delighted with the way his side finished out the contest as they kept Down scoreless for the majority of the last quarter.

The standout individual performances though were in attack as deep runs from Tom Shine caused Down a lot of issues and Eoin Donegan worked his socks off at wing forward for the full 60 minutes. Damien Healy was a late addition to the starting 15 and he certainly played his part during his 46 minutes on pitch two at Meath HQ.

Meath got off to the worst possible start when Niall McFarland set up Ronan Beatty who calmly finished into Philip O’Brien’s net. Some wasteful opportunities and breakdowns in attack cost the Royals in the early stages as the Ulster men rattled off five points on the spin. A brace of scores for Pearse Og McCrickard came either side of three points courtesy of Marc Fisher, Caolan Teggart and Eoin Pucci.

Shine finally got Meath off the mark with a well-struck free but after 15 minutes Down led 1-5 to 0-1. That score didn't ignite much for the Royals as Down responded with another five points on the bounce. Two Fisher frees followed points from Beatty, Shea Pucci and Cathal Coleman.

Meath Stalwart Healy blasted a point over the bar but his score was almost immediately cancelled out by a long-range effort from Matthew Conlon. Meath had an opportunity for a goal late in the first half after a long ball from Kyle Donnelly was gathered by Mikey Cole but the Trim man’s effort was well saved by Stephen Keith. The resulting ‘65’ from Shine dropped short and Meath headed for the dressing room at half-time trailing by 0-2 to 1-11.

After the interval, Shea Pucci and Cole traded scores before McCrickard increased Down’s advantage to 13 points. The penny seemed to drop for the Royals in the 38th minute as in a two-minute spell they rattled off four points in quick succession through Shine, Simon Ennis, Darren O’Higgins and Sean Doyle.

A further brace of scores from Shine left eight points between the sides with 15 minutes remaining. Meath’s momentum was slightly hampered when McCrickard and Donal Og Rooney raised white flags however Rooney’s score in the 48th minute transpired to be Down’s last.

Cathal Barron got Meath up and running again with a lovely score before Eoin Donegan set up Navan O’Mahony’s representative Jack Walsh for a fine point. With five minutes remaining, Mark Leavy reduced the gap back to five points before Cole chipped away at Down’s fragile lead further.

When Walsh was dragged to the ground deep in Down territory, Meath appealed for a penalty but the official decided that the infringement had taken place just outside of the large rectangle.

Despite calls from behind the ropes for Shine to go for goal, the Kilskyre/Moylagh man pointed from the resulting free to leave three points between the sides.

Meath were not able to find the major that they needed to salvage a result and Jarlath Ennis’ late point was quickly followed by the final whistle.

Down - Stephen Keith; Conor Cassidy, Ruairi McCrickard, Ben Teggart; Marc Fisher (0-3 two frees), Caolan Taggart (0-1), Niall McFarland; Matthew Conlan (0-2), Donal Hughes; Shea Pucci (0-1), Pearse Og McCrickard (0-4 three frees), Liam Savage; Cathal Coleman (0-1), Ronan Beatty (1-1), Eoin Pucci (0-1). Subs - Barry Trainor for Fisher, Ben Christie for Coleman both half-time, Donal Og Rooney (0-1) for Conlon, Ronan Smith for R McCrikard both 38m, Liam Blaney for Beaty 45m, Michael Dorrian for E Pucci 50m.

Meath - Philip O’Brien; Conor Leavy, Daire Shine, Jarlath Ennis (0-1); Darragh Heffernan, Simon Ennis (0-1), Kyle Donnelly; Joey Cole, Tom Shine (0-5 two frees); Damien Healy (0-1), Mikey Cole (0-2), Eoin Donegan; Darren O’Higgins (0-2), Sean Doyle (0-1), Mark Leavy (0-1). Subs - Gavin King for O’Brien half-time, Cathal Barron (0-1) for Doyle 45m, Jack Walsh (0-1) for Healy 46m, Fergal Flynn for M Cole 52m.

Referee - Dean Alford (Dublin).