Two late goals see Meath account for Louth Minors

Leinster Minor Football Championship Group 2 Round 3

Louth 1-7 Meath 2-9

The Louth Minors will have to deal with a preliminary quarter final after they failed to account for local rivals Meath in a feisty, yet entertaining encounter at DEFY Pairc Mhuire in Ardee last Wednesday night.

The sides were deadlocked throughout a large chunk of this encounter, but when Adam Gillespie fired home a goal on 45 minutes to open up a three-point gap, it was hoped the Wee County would push on from here.

However, it was the Royals that ended the match stronger, outscoring the hosts by 2-4 to 0-2, goals from Liam Jennings and Ben Corkery helping them on their way to a deserved five-point victory and a place in the quarterfinals.

The tie was a slow burner. After trading efforts early efforts from Gillespie (free) and Cian Commins (mark), there was close to 10 minutes without a score from either team.

The visitors had the lion’s share of possession at this stage and were forcing plenty of turnovers. Billy Smith was filling the playmaker role, his direct long passes into Commins being a huge threat. Commins was unmarkable in the air and was also capable to turning his marker with ease.

The problem was there weren’t making this time on the ball count, with Commins notching an early wide and dropping another two efforts short, while another attempt from John Harkin ended up in the keeper’s hands. Yet one of these missed chances almost led to the game’s first goal.

A poor shot was recycled back into another attack by Harkin who teed up Oisin O’Neill. He looped a ball into the square and Pat Crowley got his hand onto it. However his effort hit the crossbar, allowing Louth to regain possession, win a free and clear their lines.

Attacks were few and far between for Louth, with star attraction Gillespie not getting as much of the ball as in other games up to this point. But when they could get free, the home team looked most potent down the left channel.

Ciaran McGinty, Keelin Martin and Pearse Grimes Murphy managed to get some penetrating runs down this side of the field, and coupled with Gillespie they finally began creating chances, forcing Meath into mistakes. By the half time whistle they would’ve drawn seven fouls in the opposition’s half.

Meath finally ended the scoring drought on 12 minutes when another long ball worked a treat into Commins, who beat his man and drew a foul. The close range free nicely slotted over by Harkin.

Gillespie replied for Louth five minutes later, bouncing the ball nicely to get it away from danger before blasting it over the bar, while a free soon afterwards gave the hosts the lead for the first time.

While played in good spirits throughout, there was some heavy hits in this game which forced referee Dan Stynes to stop play four times within the first 22 minutes of play.

Both Michael McIvor and Cormac McKeown went off for assessments following knocks in this fashion and neither returned to the game. One such high challenge resulted in Lorcan Buckley being issued with a black card on 17 minutes.

While Meath regained the lead during this period with an extra man, via efforts from Oisin Yore and Harkin, Louth replied nicely upon his return to the game. Points from Michael Reid and Gillespie leaving the teams deadlocked at the break, 0-5 apiece.

The second half saw Meath take full control of the middle sector. They would win possession from eight of their nine kickouts, while also forcing turnovers six times from Louth restarts.

Their dominance was helped by Commins fielding now being undertaken around the centre as opposed to on the edge of square, while he was being backed up nicely by their captain Eamon Armstrong.

The Duleek clubman was around to win any breaking balls and was also about when needed to defend, making vital tackles in defence as well setting up attack after attack from around the middle.

Also becoming a nuisance was substitute Ben Corkery. He became Meath’s new target man and his darting runs saw him moving through the Louth defence with ease, setting up attacks or drawing fouls close to goal for Harkin to tap over.

But despite this second purple patch, they once again only managed to bag single point in this third quarter via Oisin O’Neill, which left the door open for Louth.

And with the game all square it was Gillespie that came up the goods with a sublime goal on 45 minutes. He got his hands onto a long-range pass from Buckley, before soloing goalward and unleashing a bullet into the net.

This was the home team’s chance to push on, but instead it was the men in green and gold who advanced, tagging over four in a row via Harkin, three from frees and one from play.

While Gillespie hit back with a brace to regain the lead, the final two scores of the were goals for the visitors. The first came on 57 minutes, a lovely catch from Armstong teeing up Commins. His effort from range was short but bounced in the square. This allowed Liam Jennings to fist it home.

Back in front, Meath got their insurance score deep into injury time. Oisin Yore intercepted a loose Padraic Tinnelly pass. He would tee up the in-form Corkery whose effort was cleared off the line by Cian Farrell.

Sadly, he cleared his line while still on the floor, resulting in a penalty for the visitors. It was snuggly tucked away by Corkery to open up a five-point gap, as Meath secured second place in the group.

Having kept Meath off the scoreboard for large periods, David Reid and Johnny Clerkin will be annoyed to be on the losing side. They registered no wides in the first half too, but ultimately the six second half misses proved costly. But they at least have the solace of a Preliminary Quarter-Final.

Gallant Louth hurlers outdone by Roscommon goal rush

Louth GAA Division 2 Round Up: Emphatic win sees Clans set the early pace

LOUTH: Tiernan Markey; Cian Farrell, Ciaran McGinty, Kellin Martin; Michael Reid (0-1), Padraic Tinnelly, Cormac McKeown; Conor McGinty, Lorcan Buckley; Sean Flynn, Evan McCloskey, Pearse Grimes-Murphy; Adam Gillespie (1-6, 0-4 frees), Josh Taaffe, Shane Lennon. SUBS: Tony McDonnell for McKeown (24), Luke Brannigan for Flynn (ht), Dylan Shevlin for McCloskey (46), Paddy McHugh for Taaffe (50), 

MEATH: Ben Colfer; Cormac Liggan, Tom Lenehan, Thomas Sheridan; Naoise Maguire, John Gormley, Oisin O'Neill (0-1); Eamon Armstrong, Michael McIvor; Pat Crawley, Billy Smyth, David Donnelly; John Harkin (0-6, 0-4 frees), Cian Commons (0-1 mark), Cian Duggan. SUBS: Oisin Yore (0-1) for McIvor (19), Ben Corkery (1-0 pen) for Smyth (34), Rory Crawley for P Crawley (46), Liam Jennings (1-0) for Donnelly (53), Oliver Maloney for Duggan (56), Cillian Yore for Harkin (63).

REFEREE: D Stynes (Dublin).