Agony and Ecstacy for Meath footballers

Meath exited the All-Ireland SFC qualifiers following their 4-3 to 4-12 drubbing at the hands of Limerick in Pairc na nGael on Saturday evening. With 12 minutes remaining, Meath trailed by a massive 20 points but managed to salvage some pride with four late goals to close the margin of defeat to nine points. The fallout from the defeat was substantial as manager Colm Coyle announced to his players on the long bus journey home that his tenure as Meath coach was over. Prior to departing Limerick veterans Graham Geraghty and Darren Fay also announced that they were hanging up their inter-county boots and more retirements can be expected. Less than 24 hours later, honour was restored in Meath football by Pat Coyle's minor team as they claimed the Leinster title with a narrow 1-14 to 2-10 victory over Offaly at Croke Park. Meath had moved into a five-point lead early in the second half but failed to score again until deep into injury-time when substitute David Ryan kicked the winning point into a packed Hill 16 to spark wild celebrations. See the Meath Chronicle on Wednesday for full coverage of both these matches.