ALLIANZ FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION TWO Antrim 0-14 Meath 0-11:MEATH'S FOOTBALLERS were left to rue 13 wides as they fell to a three-point defeat in Saturday night's clash at Casement Park.
The Royals were five points to the good after 22 minutes, 0-6 to 0-1, but Antrim got to grips with midfield and rattled of six unanswered scores to lead 0-7 to 0-6 at the break.
The second half was level four times by the 57th minute when Meath substitute Cian Ward converted a free to tie the score at 0-10. Earlier Niblock had a chance on goal for the Saffrons but a foul by Brian Meade saw the centre back receive his second yellow card. Antrim drove on and four unanswered scores from Paddy Cunningham, who finished with 0-9, gave the Saffrons their first points in Division Two.
“This is a hole that we need to get out of and now is the time to stand up and work our way out of it. It is certainly a disappointing position to be in but there are still eight points up for grabs and it’s up to us to target two points against Donegal in Navan in two weeks’ time,” said Royals boss Seamus McEnaney.
“We kicked a few bad wides . . . It’s certainly disappointing that we got turned over like that and gave away handy scores before half-time.”
ANTRIM: S O'Neill; A Healy, A Douglas, K OBoyle; T Scullion (0-2), J Crozier, T ONeill (0-1); K McGourty, S Burke (0-1); A Gallagher, K Brady, C Murray; P Cunningham (0-9, 0-8f), K Niblock (0-1), B Herron. Subs: R Johnston for J Crozier, M Dougan for K Niblock, M Sweeney for K Brady.
MEATH: B Murphy; G O'Brien, K Reilly, C King; S Kenny, B Meade, C McGuinness; M Ward, C Gillespie; S McAnarney, B Farrell, G Reilly (0-3); D Morgan (0-1), J Sheridan (0-1), S O'Rourke (0-3, 2f). Subs: C Ward (0-3, two frees) for B Farrell, N Crawford for M Ward, B Menton for K Reilly, A Nestor for D Morgan, T Walsh for C Gillespie.
Referee: P Hughes(Armagh).
