Royals bow out to talented Rebels

A very talented Cork put Trevor Giles young royals to the sword in the All-Ireland MFC quarter-final at Thurles.

Cork 3-19

Meath 1-12

Cork’s netminder, Rory Twohig put in a phenomenal performance and finished with a tally of nine points as the classy rebels picked apart Trevor Giles' young royals in the All-Ireland MFC quarter-final at Thurles on Saturday.

The loss was a sad end to what has been a wonderful campaign for the Meath minors. Giles' side were all but written off after they lost their first two outings to Louth and Kildare but Meath incredibly turned their fortunes around and reached the Leinster final with wins over Laois, Wicklow, Offaly and Dublin along the way.

The heartbreak and hangover from the Leinster final loss to Kildare may have left a bit of a mark on Meath as on Saturday they looked slightly flat. However, even if the Royals reached their peak and performed to the best of their abilities, they would have struggled to beat a very talented Cork side who will fancy themselves strongly for a tilt at the Tom Markham Cup.

Meath opted to play into the wind in the first-half and in the second minute, Milo Stafford’s two-point attempt came up just short but it was well gathered by Dara Loughran who set up Cormac Walsh for a nice point.

Twohig responded for Cork with a ‘45’ before a good turnover from Meath followed by a score from Harry McGuirk saw the Royals move ahead by one after five minutes. Unfortunately for Meath, that was the last time they led as Cork seized momentum and scored seven points on the spin which included two very well-struck two-point frees from Twohig. At the end of the first quarter, Cork led 0-8 to 0-2.

Conn Brennan ended the rut for the Royals but his score was quickly cancelled out by Conrad Murphy. Meath then carelessly coughed up possession and Joe Miskella took full advantage when he raised an orange flag.

Before half-time the Rebels stretched their advantage with another Twohig 45 and a Tom Whooley point. At the break, Cork led 0-13 to 0-3.

Just before the throw-in, Cork formed a line formation with their six attackers spread across the Meath half-back line. This caused enough confusion for the Royals' defence as Murphy sailed through from the throw-in before Jacob Barry set up Eoghan Ahern for a goal.

Twohig then brought his own personal tally to eight points before McGuirk responded for the Royals with a well-taken two-pointer. A well-constructed move that had some nice build-up play from Miskala and Ben Hegarty was finished to the Meath net as Cork moved ahead by 2-14 to 0-5.

In the 39th minute, Darragh O’Sullivan was issued a black card when he blatantly dragged Liam O’Donoghue to the ground just outside the arc. This handed Meath a small lifeline and from the resulting free, Stafford raised an orange flag.

Boosted by the numerical advantage, Meath started to play with their tails up. Stafford played a lovely ball across the field to O’Donoghue, who picked out the onrushing McGuirk before the captain produced a sublime finish to the Cork net.

Walsh then reduced the gap back to eight points before Twohig halted Meath’s momentum with another two-point free. Whooley followed up with two points on the spin and with five minutes left on the clock. Cork held an unassailable lead of 12 points.

Cork’s third goal courtesy of Miskella was the final nail in the coffin for the Royals. Meath finished out the game well with points from McGuirk and Cormac McKenna but at that stage the Rebels already had one eye on the semi-final.

Meath - Cormac Fitzsimons; Ben Browne, Tomas Clarke, Niall Rogan; Liam O'Donoghue, John Killoran, Niall Smyth (0-1); Alex Keane, Tomas Proudfoot; Cormac McKenna (0-1), Harry McGuirk (1-4 one two-point), Conn Brennan (0-1); Cormac Walsh (0-3), Milo Stafford (0-2 one two-point free), Dara Loughran. Subs - Harry Keating for Killoran half-time, Leo Kavanagh for Proudfoot 35m, Tomas Dillon for Loughran 40m, Harris Moffat for Walsh 50m, Oisin Farrelly for O’Donoghue 55m.

Cork - Rory Twohig (0-9 three two-point frees, two ’45’s, one free); Riain McCormack, Aaron O'Sullivan, Conor Garvey; Darragh O'Sullivan, Conor Downing, Eanna Lynch; Kieran O'Shea (1-0), Conrad Murphy (0-1); Eoghan Ahern (1-0), Ben Hegarty (0-1), Joe Miskella (1-3 one two-point); Tom Whooley (0-4), Jacob Barry, Donal Herlihy. Subs - Alex O'Herlihy (0-1) for Herlihy 44m, Kevin O’Donovan for D O’Sullivan 40m, Peadar Kelly for Murphy 54m, Donncha O’Mahony for Barry, Michael Walsh for Hegarty 58m.

Referee - Eamon O’Connor (Offaly).