Rare case of a Meath Houdini act that fails

A tale of the unexpected in Navan yesterday. Meath chase down an eight-point deficit, draw level, and then finish by far the strongest. But they lose.

So much for tradition. Just when it appeared certain that Meath had once again done what they do best, Fermanagh won back the advantage and gained their first - and badly needed - league points.

After 15 minutes they had 2-2 to their credit and Meath had yet to put together a decent attack. There have been questions about the Fermanagh defence, but up to then there were no cracks to be seen, the only exception being the early test of goalkeeper Ronan Gallagher from the break of Charles McCarthy.

Then, as gradual as it gets, the chase began. It was 2-5 to 1-2 at half-time, down to four points with a quarter of an hour to go, and then level with a little over five minutes left.

At that stage, Fermanagh manager John Maughan was praying that the whole roof wouldn't blow off, but, against all expectations, Raymond Gallagher calmly chipped over a free and Meath lay down quietly.

For Maughan, it certainly wasn't as comfortable sideline viewing as last weekend's win over Wicklow in the All-Ireland B final, but to bag the two points was the sole ambition - no matter how they were won.

"It was very tense in the second half," he said, "and we had an awful lot of turnovers. Any ball we got we gave a lot of it back again. We just didn't play particularly well. But I thought we showed great character to get the winning score, especially after we gifted them the equalising goal.

"But it was essential that we got two points here because we totally under-performed to such a huge extent against Mayo and Sligo. I think we turned the corner here last Sunday, and winning is so important from a confidence perspective."

Fermanagh certainly started with plenty of confidence and Rory Gallagher and Stephen Maguire picked off the opening points.

In the 12th minute, Shane King laid on a perfect ball for Maguire and, although Cormac Sullivan blocked the first shot, Kieran Donnelly knocked the rebound back into Maguire's path and he flicked the ball into the net.

Two minutes later, they had a penalty when Raymond Gallagher was high-tackled by Sullivan (already booked, he was lucky to stay on the field). Rory Gallagher obliged with the goal.

So it was 17 minutes before Meath finally scored with an Ollie Murphy point. That woke a few people up, and Donal Curtis looked to have a certain goal only for Gallagher to save.

Murphy's first goal just before the break - well laid on by Geraghty - was no less than they deserved.

Now with the wind in their backs, Meath immediately took over in the second half. Barry Carty was pressured into conceding a penalty after just a minute and Geraghty made no mistake with the goal. That reduced Fermanagh's lead to three points.

But they got back some breathing space soon after when Rory Gallagher took a quick free that was chased by substitute Shane McDermott. Again Sullivan got to the first shot, but not King's rebound. A soft goal but Fermanagh needed it.

From then on, however, the attacking was going one way only. Geraghty was roaming more around midfield and John McDermott showed a lot more presence.

After three points in succession, it looked like Fermanagh might be in trouble. With Murphy's second goal, they certainly were in trouble.

Curtis had reduced the margin to three and then he sent in the sweetest of passes for Murphy. Simply created and simply executed, few at that stage would have bet against Meath.

Instead, Fermanagh held just enough nerve to give Raymond Gallagher the winning free. And Meath lost theirs.

Mark O'Reilly was sent off at the final whistle for a second yellow card and Sean Boylan goes into the Christmas break with just two points from three games.

"We had plenty of chances to win it, but we weren't capable of taking them," he said. "It means now that we have to win all our matches after Christmas or else we could be relegated. So it means we have a lot of work to do. But I don't want to take anything from Fermanagh's victory. It was a good victory for them and we tried very hard to get back."

Fermanagh: Ronan Gallagher; B Carty, P McGuinness, P Courtney; S Burns, P Quinn, J Gilheaney; P Brewster, C Courtney; T Brewster (0-1), Rory Gallagher (1-3, two frees), K Donnelly; Raymond Gallagher (0-2, one free), S Maguire (1-1), S King (1-0). Subs: S McDermott for Donnelly (half-time), R Johnson for Quinn (50 mins), O Mulligan for Courtney (62 mins).

Meath: C Sullivan; M O'Reilly, H Traynor, C Murphy; P Reynolds, N Nestor, P Shankey; N Crawford, J McDermott; D Curtis (0-2, one free), C McCarthy, D Byrne; O Murphy (2-1), G Geraghty (1-1, a free), R Fitzsimons (0-1). Subs: R Farley (0-1) for Byrne (40 mins), J Devine for McCarthy (55 mins), N McKeigue for Fitzsimons (60 mins).

Referee: J Geaney (Cork).