Royals battle to victory in Omagh

As they have done so often in the past, when their backs were against the wall, the Meath ladies delivered.

Meath 1-0-12 (15)

Tyrone 1-1-8 (13)

Meath protected their senior status and secured a place in the All-Ireland Ladies knockout stages with a hard-fought victory over Tyrone at Healy Park on Saturday. There was late drama in the clash when Tyrone’s Maeve Maxwell tucked away a penalty to leave two points between the sides. However, Meath survived that late scare and set up a quarter-final clash with old rivals Kerry.

There was very little between the sides in the first 20 minutes or so before Meath seized momentum and opened up a gap of three points prior to half-time. Tyrone started the second-half well as Niamh O’Neill scored the only two-pointer to reduce the gap back to the minimum. However, Meath’s response was quick and effective as two minutes later Meadhbh Byrne rattled the back of the net.

The Royals largely kept their opponents at arm's length for the remainder, until that late penalty set up a nervy conclusion, which thankfully Meath came out the right side of.

Orla Finnegan had half a goal chance early on but after Tyrone dealt with the danger, the referee brought play back for advantage and Emma Duggan opened Meath’s account with a simple free. Points from Slaine McCarroll and O’Neill edged the Ulster side ahead before Byrne brought Meath back on level terms.

The Royals took the lead when Finnegan set up Niamh Gallogly for a nice score. However soon after, Meath breached the three-up rule and O’Neill restored parity. Ciara Smyth and Katie Bermingham traded scores with Sorhca Gormley and Chloe McCaffrey and after 20 minutes, the sides were level with five points apiece.

Meath upped the tempo in attack and it paid dividends as they rattled off three points on the spin. Smyth set up Byrne for a nice score before Finnegan and Bermingham opened up a three-point gap. Tyrone responded with a score courtesy of McCaffery before a lovely move that had some fantastic link-up play between Smyth and Duggan was polished off by Gallogly and at the break Meath led 0-9 to 0-6.

Shortly after the restart, Robyn Murray was called into action when she was forced to make a good save to deny McCaffery a goal opportunity. Tyrone then reduced the gap back to the minimum when O’Neill slotted over a two-point free.

Meath’s responded almost immediately with a well worked goal. Amy Gaffney started the move in her own defence before she burst forward. Orlaith Sheehy and Sinead Murphy were involved in the build-up before Gaffney set up Byrne who raised a green flag.

In what was a crucial period, Murray kept Tyrone at bay with another good save this time to deny McCarroll. Caitlin Campbell pulled a point back for the visitors before Smyth and Duggan scored two points in quick succession which gave Meath a lead of 1-11 to 0-9 at the end of the third quarter.

Meath’s game management in the final quarter was quite effective. O’Neill added another free but it was quickly cancelled out by a score from Ali Sherlock. Late on, Murphy was deemed to have fouled Claire Canavan inside the large rectangle. Murphy was handed a yellow card before Maxwell dispatched the penalty past Murray.

Meath had to play with 14 for the remainding few minutes but they managed to survive Tyrone’s pressure and book their quarter-final spot which will be away to Kerry in two weeks.

Meath - Robyn Murray; Aoife Farrell, Áine Sheridan, Amy Gaffney; Orlaith Sheehy, Olivia Gore, Katie Bermingham (0-2); Sinéad Murphy, Niamh Gallogly (0-2); Lauren Woods, Emma Duggan (0-2 one free), Megan Thynne; Meadhbh Byrne (1-2), Ciara Smyth (0-1), Orlaith Finnegan (0-2). Subs - Órla Smith for Byrne 47m, Rachel Casserly for Finnegan 49m, Karla Kealy for Farrell, Ciara Lawlor for Gore both 52m, Ali Sherlock (0-1) for Duggan 57m.

Tyrone - Laura Kane; Erin Quinn, Gráinne McKenna, Jayne Hearty; Claire Canavan, Meabh Corrigan, Caitlin Campbell (0-1); Meabh Mallon, Aoibhin McHugh; Emer McCanny, Chloe McCaffrey (0-2 one free), Slaine McCarroll (0-1); Niamh O’Neill (0-5, three frees, one two-point free), Cara McNamee, Sorcha Gormley (0-1). Subs - Katie Rose Muldoon for McCanny 47m, Maeve Maxwell (1-0 penalty) for McNamee, Julia Barrett for Hearty both 52m, Emma McCrossan for Gormley 55m, Emma Conroy for Canavan 58m.

Referee: Philip Conway (Armagh).