Meath up for challenges

Those amongst the large crowd that attended the official opening of the re-development of Summerhill GAA grounds will have left with a broad smile and plenty of confidence following Meath's impressive SF challenge victory over Galway. Galway were well below par and tailed off significantly in the second-half as their journey back from New York took its toll. Galway were lucky to overcome the Exiles just eight days earlier in the Connacht SFC game at Gaelic Park, but it was the epic journey home that caused Joe Kernan's side to perform so poorly in Summerhill. With their flight to Dublin cancelled because of the spewing ash from Eyjafjallajökull, Galway were forced to travel to London, take a bus to Holyhead where they caught the ferry to Dublin and eventually got back to Galway after midnight last Thursday morning. Despite the prolonged journey, Galway fulfilled Sunday's fixture and for 40 minutes put up a decent fight before Meath's superior energy took over and ensured Eamonn O'Brien's men coasted to victory. Fielding a much stronger side than the one that lost out to Down at the official opening of Oldcastle's new facility at Millbrook just six days earlier, Meath looked very sharp in attack with Stephen Bray and Cian Ward returning to form at just the right time. Bryan Menton cemented his place in O'Brien's plans for the Leinster SFC clash against Offaly with another decent performance. The Donaghmore/Ashbourne player was solid at full-back and didn't look fazed against Padraic Joyce. Longwood's Michael Burke had an excellent game at centre-back while Peadar Byrne, Bray, Ward and Shane O'Rourke all looked lively. Niall Mooney did his prospects no harm either, but an injury sustained by Ollie Lewis forced the Na Fianna man off early in the second-half and that will cause concern for O'Brien. The opening period was typical 'friendly' stuff. There was the odd hard tackle and a few decent scores, but the intensity of inter-county football was lacking and that ensured a low-key performance which ended with Meath taking a 0-7 to 0-4 interval lead. Galway took the lead through Joe Bergin, but points from Ward (free), Lewis and Mooney put Meath in the driving seat. The impressive Nicky Joyce and Padraic Joyce (free) traded scores with Lewis and O'Rourke as Meath maintained their two-point cushion. Nicky Joyce closed the gap to a point, but a superb score from O'Rourke and a converted '45' from Ward, after Eoin O Conghaille had denied Bray, gave Meath their three-point interval lead, Two Nicky Joyce points in the opening 90 seconds of the second-half threatened to spoil the home side's hospitality, but another O'Rourke point settled the hosts before Bergin made it a one-point game again, 0-7 to 0-8. Two Ward frees either side of a Byrne score pushed Meath four points clear. Nicky Joyce responded with a free, but that was the visitors last score for 16 minutes as Meath moved into the winners enclosure with scores from Bray (two), Ward, Mooney, Caoimhin King, Graham Reilly and Brian Farrell. Byrne was denied a goal by another great save from O Conghaille, while Paddy O'Rourke did well to keep out a Niall Coleman effort. The last eight minutes were pedestrian. Bergin ended Galway's barren spell before Byrne was again denied by O Conghaille, Ward fired over the rebound. Padraic Joyce spoiled the hosts club's substitute goalkeeper Tony McDonnell's evening by grabbing the only goal with five minutes remaining. Nicky Joyce added some respectability to Galway's tally with another point before referee Joe McQuillan ordered that substitute Darren Mullahy be taken off following a dangerous tackle on Byrne. Play resumed with Ward and Nicky Joyce converting frees as Meath concluded their challenge match series with an impressive win. Meath - P O'Rourke; C O'Connor, B Menton, E Harrington; A Moyles, M Burke, J Macken; N Crawford, C Gillespie; N Mooney (0-2), P Byrne (0-1), O Lewis (0-2); C Ward (0-7, five frees, one '45'), S O'Rourke (0-3), S Bray (0-2). Subs - S McAnarney for Crawford 43 mins, C King (0-1) for Harrington 43m, B Farrell (0-1) for Lewis 48m, G Reilly (0-1) for S O'Rourke 56m, T McDonnell for P O'Rourke 61m. Galway - E O Conghaille; D Reilly, F Hanley, A Burke; T Fahy, D Blake, N Coyne; P Conroy, J Bergin (0-3); G Sice, S Armstrong, C Bane; E Concannon, P Joyce (1-1, one free), D Cummins. Subs - N Joyce (0-7, three frees) for Armstrong 10 mins, D O'Neill for Reilly 43m, D Burke for A Burke 43m, N Coleman for Sice 50m, D Mullahy for Coyne 55m, C De Paor for Cummins 59m, C Healy for Mullahy 68m. Referee - Joe McQuillan (Cavan). FRIDAY Meath 0-15 Antrim 0-10 Meath also played a challenge game on Friday evening. The game was played at Simonstown where Meath faced Antrim, a team they will play in the NFL Div 2 next year. Meath - P O'Rourke; C O'Connor, J Macken, E Harrington; G O'Brien, B Menton (0-1), C King; C Gillespie, N Crawford; S Kenny, J Sheridan (0-2), G Reilly (0-4); S O'Rourke, B Farrell (0-6), S Bray (0-2). Subs - C Ward for O'Rourke, P Byrne for Reilly, M Ward for Gillespie, E Gilsenan (0-1) for King, D Carroll for Sheridan, S McAnarney for O'Connor. Referee - Sean Carroll (Westmeath).