Meath league campaign off to flying start

Meath racked up three goals and 18 points, all from play, in 70 minutes of attacking play and brilliant scoring.

The Royal County might have inflated their tally but the woodwork came to Galway’s rescue in the opening half. Meath ended up shooting 16 wides and dropped several more attempts short.

Galway can take some consolation from this encounter as they were leading early in the second half, 3-6 to 2-4. What is certain is that with 14 players contributing a score – including two corner backs – Meath are impressive.

How they found themselves trailing Galway at half-time, and at that stage also had Paddy O’Rourke to thank for his brilliant penalty save, is not easily explained.

“Yeah, it’s hard to make sense of it,” confessed Meath manager Mick O’Dowd. “The opening game in the league has always been a big date in the diary, so we’re very happy with the result. Five points down, 30 seconds into the second half and turning that around is very pleasing. Because at half-time we highlighted the fact we’d far more chances than the score board reflected.”

Royal roasting
Meath's very first attack ended with the opening goal for Michael Newman, before Galway's second attack ended with a goal for Seá

n Armstrong. That set the tempo for the entire game, with Meath more pace setters than pursuers as Stephen Bray bagged their second goal on 23 minutes. Then Galway’s 2-2 either side of half-time – the first goal coming from Michael Martin, the second from substitute Thomas Flynn, both superbly finished – gave them the advantage, although not for long.

Meath hit back with a surge of scores – including eight points without reply. This was started by Graham Reilly and included long-range efforts from Bryan Menton and Andrew Tormey, before Shane O’Rourke marked his first start in two years with a point. By the time David Bray added their third goal, on 62 minutes, they appeared well beyond reach, although Galway closed things back a little, with Gary Sice banging in their fourth goal.

Losing Armstrong to a black card after 46 minutes (the only offender on the day) didn’t help Galway’s momentum as he had been their driving force. Manager Alan Mulholland did not excuse defeat on that alone. Indeed most teams who score 4-11 would still expect to win. “I’m not disputing the black card,” he said. “But it was unfortunate because he’s been doing really well for us, has become a bit of a leader in the group and losing him was definitely a negative impact.”

Dublin template
Galway found it more difficult to sustain their

momentum throughout the game, yet Mulholland admitted it’s something most teams are trying to achieve. “I suppose a lot of people are looking at the Dublin template, trying to create some fast-moving football . . . we came off the wrong side of that here, so maybe we need to get a few more men behind the ball.”

The ease with which Meath got into scoring positions was the difference here.

“Maybe defenders are concerned about what is a black and what is a yellow [card]. But you need that pace in the modern game. I know the traditional Meath style is to get the ball in quick to the full forwards, and I think we still do that . . . we’re just trying to create a more adaptable team,” said O’Dowd. ”