Meath rally to see of Regional All-stars

Four identical goals, scored by Eoghan Frayne (two), Ronan Jones and Diarmuid Moriarty, proved to be decisive as an experimental Meath side saw off the challenge of the Regional All-stars by 4-13 to 0-14 in tonight's football challenge match at Dunganny.

All four goals were similar in their fast-paced, clinical build-up and were executed with a close range palm to the net as the All-stars struggled to cope with the powerful running when Meath injected a bit of urgency into their game.

This 60-minute contest afforded manager Colm O'Rourke and his selectors and coaches an opportunity to cast their eye over 41 players and while there will obviously be stiffer tasks ahead for Meath the manager can be pleased with his side's first outing of the year.

The Regional All-stars did offer plenty of resistance and caused Meath several problems. Meath played the whole game against the wind in an effort to build experience playing against the elements and when they deployed their running game they were excellent at creating chances.

Sean Coffey, Harry O'Higgins and Mark Coffey provided plenty of options from deep, while the power of Ronan Jones, early on, and Daithi McGowan ensured that when Meath got going they were able to cut the All-stars open.

However, it took Meath a while to get going and the opening quarter belonged to the stars from the Regional FC with two points each for Paddy McDermott and Daire Rowe (one mark) and one for Danny Dixon and the excellent Brian O'Reilly inspiring them to a 0-6 to 0-1 lead.

Meath sole reply in that spell came from Ruairi Kinsella, but in the 18th minute a strong run from McGowan cut open the All-stars defence before Jones cleverly flicked onto James Conlon and his return pass across the face of the goals was palmed to the net by Jones.

Rowe replied with a converted free, but Meath closed the gap with Sean Coffey and Frayne on target to make it 1-3 to 0-7.

An excellent point from Conor Farrelly looked to have settled the All-stars, but in the 30th minute Aaron Lynch crossed for Frayne to palm the first of his brace of goals and seconds later Lynch fired over a fine point to secure a 2-4 to 0-8 interval lead for O'Rourke's charges.

Still with the wind at their backs for the second-half the All-stars made a bright start with substitute Sean Coloe excelling with a point after 15 seconds and a second from 45 metres two minutes later. Sean Reilly edged the John McCarthy/Conor O'Donoghue managed side into a 0-11 to 2-4 lead with a brilliant point, but that was their last score for 10 minutes as Meath settled again.

A Frayne free was followed by a Moriarty mark as Meath edged ahead again and in the 40th minute they extended their lead to 3-9 to 0-11 after Frayne palmed his second goal following great work by Cian McBride, Jack O'Connor and Moriarty.

The All-stars were clearly tiring, but they did manage to pull a point back from the outstanding Rowe. However 90 seconds later Moriarty palmed his side's fourth to make it 4-6 to 0-12.

Kinsella was denied a fifth goal for Meath by a superb save from Eoin Griffin and David McLoughlin countered with a fine point, but that was his side's penultimate score as Jack Flynn, Conlon, Mathew Costello (two, one free), Ciaran Caulfield, Kinsella and Moriarty all added to Meath's tally before Rowe closed the scoring to conclude an entertaining contest.

Meath will continue their preparations for the new season next Saturday when they travel to Cork to take on the hosts in a charity match in memory of the late Teddy McCarthy.

Meath - Billy Hogan (Longwood); Michael Murphy (St Peter's), Michael Flood (St Brigid's), Niall Murphy (Curraha); Sean Coffey (Ballinabrackey 0-1), Harry O'Higgins (Drumbaragh), Mark Coffey (Ballinabrackey); Cian McBride (St Ultan's), Daithi McGowan (Ratoath); Jack Kinlough (St Peter's), Ruairi Kinsella (Dunshaughlin 0-2), Ronan Jones (St Peter's 1-0); Aaron Lynch (Trim 0-1), Eoghan Frayne (Summerhill 2-2 one frees), James Conlon (St Colmcille's 0-1). Subs - Adam McDonnell (Summerhill) for O'Higgins 14m, Diarmuid Moriarty (Curraha 1-2 one mark) for Jones 22m, Ciaran Caulfield (Trim 0-1) for S Coffey, Jack O'Connor (Curraha) for Lynch both half-time, John O'Regan (Skryne) for Flood 42m, Mathew Costello (Dunshaughlin 0-2 one free) for Frayne, Jack Flynn (Ratoath 0-1) for Kinlough both 45m,

Regional All-stars - Conor Gilsenan (Blackwater); Shane Gibney (Loughcrew), Sean Ryan (Tara), Brian O'Reilly (Blackwater 0-1); Brendan McKeon (Moyfenragh), Darren Brennan (Boyne Valley, Conor Farrelly (Boyne Valley 0-1); Oran Mulvanny (Loughcrew), Sean Reilly (Loughcrew 0-1); Gary Breslin (An Tuascairt), Paddy McDermott (Blackwater 0-2), Aodhan Mallon (Ardbraccan); Daire Rowe (Boyne Valley 0-5 one frees, one mark), Danny Dixon (Moyfenragh 0-1), David McLoughlin (Boyne Valley 0-1). Subs - Sean Coloe (Moyfenragh 0-2) for Breslin, Con Smith (Tara) for Mallon, James Mooney (An Tuascairt) for Dixon, Eoin Griffin (Moyfenragh) for Gilsenan all half-time.

Referee - Martin Dawson (Ballinlough).