Meath score 27 points but still not vintage Royals

Meath 0-27 Louth 3-9

Is this the first glimpse of the second coming? Not quite vintage Meath, that’s for sure, yet signs of a team certainly intent on resurrecting their once formidable presence in the Leinster football championship.

And the first championship victory for manager Andy McEntee as he starts shining a light on that path. “I put my hand up for this job, and I’d hate to get off to a losing start,” said McEntee, relief and satisfaction drawn across the lines of his face.

Louth certainly made them work hard for it, helped on by a bizarrely fortuitous goal four minutes after the restart when Paddy O’Rourke’s kick-out fell straight to Ronan Holcroft, only in dashing back to cover his line, O’Rourke somehow mistook the far post for the near one, allowing Holcroft to drop the ball harmlessly into the Meath net.

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Indeed Louth were still in front on the 48th minute, after which Meath out-scored them 14 points to one goal in the time that remained, like the way Coe or Ovett would kick away from their opposition. Meath’s 27 points could easily have been topped up had they converted some of their five full-on goal chances, four in the first half alone.

Cillian O'Sullivan handled buckets of ball and didn't always take the right option

Ultimately the cream of their player rose to the top, most notably captain Graham Reilly, who hit seven points all from play. James Toher, a late replacement for James McEntee who hurt his hip warming up, hit 0-5 including three frees, Donal Lenihan scored six, and Ronan Jones lorded midfield and rewarded himself with a point close to the end as well.

Their semi-final date with Kildare on June 17th will certainly demand more of the same, and at times Meath did squander chances. Cillian O’Sullivan handled buckets of ball and didn’t always take the right option, but McEntee will be encouraged that five points also came off the bench thanks to Thomas Reilly, Ruairi O Coileain, and Sean Tobin.

“Yeah, look, we did finish strong and that doesn’t surprise me,” added McEntee. “The guys have done an awful lot of work with John Coghlan (Meath’s fitness coach). I’ve sung his praises for long enough at this stage. I have no doubt the fellas have a lot more in their tanks still, they probably could have gone on for a little bit longer if they’d had to.

“And I think the thing that we’re trying to convince fellas of is that in the last 10 minutes we’re okay and we can win games in the last 10 minutes and that proved to be today, we looked stronger in a lot of areas in the last 10 minutes. Sure, it’s nice to get it across the line because you never know.”

Louth were soon struggling to match Meath's pace, and again the pure deftness of Reilly

The first half was classic championship fare, end to end, momentum swing back and forth like a pendulum. Both teams had players back-carded in the first half, Louth’s Kevin Carr first to go on 29 minutes for a lack tackle on Bryan McMahon after his goal chance came rebounding off the cross bar; Meath then lost Conor McGill a minute later for a goalmouth foul that resulted in a penalty, hammered home by Jim McEneaney.

It left one point between the teams at the break, but even with the blessing of that gifted goal early after the restart, Louth were soon struggling to match Meath’s pace, and again the pure deftness of Reilly’s ability to kick a point from play. They can carry the ball at ferocious pace and look dangerous in the lay-off but whether they’ll get to test that against Dublin only time will tell.

It leaves Louth still seeking their first championship win over Meath since 1975, losing nine times since then, including the robbery of that 2010 Leinster final. Meath won by five points in the same fixture last year, and when Colin Kelly, in his third season as Louth manager, was asked what positives he might take from the game, he promptly declared “none”: they certainly tested Meath’s defence at times but not often enough, and were also caught badly whenever hit with a counterattack.

“When in the losing dressing room of the Leinster championship, for the third time, it’s hard to find any positives,” said Kelly. “Meath’s 27 points were justified, because they kicked the scores. We felt we there were goals in us, if we pushed up forward, but unfortunately we just didn’t play well. That’s down to Meath and down to us.

There are only so many times you can come here and look to next year

“We felt we could score goals. That’s probably why we pushed up and at that stage once you take the decision to commit and go down that route then it’s bail or jail and unfortunately today it was jail.

“But I said during the week there are only so many times you can come here and look to next year, look to next year. Sometimes we have to question ourselves, I have to question myself as a manager, and players have to take a long hard look at themselves as well. Why does this happen? Maybe, you know, are you good enough? Today wasn’t good enough, and that’s where it’s at.”

MEATH: 1 P O'Rourke; 2 M Burke, 3 C McGill, D Tobin; 5 P Harnan, 6 D Keogan, 7 S McEntee; 8 B Menton, 9 R Jones (0-1); 17 J Toher (0-5, three frees), 11 C O'Sullivan (0-1), 12 E Wallace; 13 G Reilly (capt) (0-7), B McMahon (0-2), 15 D Lenihan (0-6, three frees, one 45).

Subs: 24 D McQuillan for McGill (30 mins, black card), 19 R O Cioleain (0-2) for McEntee (52 mins), 22 C O’Brien for Menton (55 mins, inj), 21 T Reilly (0-2) for McMahon (59 mins), 23 S Tobin (0-1) for O’Sullivan (70 mins).

LOUTH: 1 C Lynch; 2 P Rath (capt), 3 P Reilly, 4 K Carr; 18 L Dullaghan, 6 J Bingham, 24 D Byrne; 8 T Durnin, 9 J Stewart; 10 A Williams (0-1), 11 P Smith, 12 B Duffy (0-1); 25 J McEneaney (1-2, one free, one penalty) 14 O O'Connor, 15 R Burns (0-2, both frees).

Subs: 17 K Murphy for Rath (20 mins), 20 A McDonnell for Byrne, A McDonnell for Byrne (26 mins), 22 R Holcroft (1-0) for Carr(29 mins, black card), 5 C McKeever (1-0) for Dullaghan (half time), 26 J Califf (0-3, one free) for Durnin (41 mins), R Moore for Smith (70 mins).

Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry)