Meath juniors slump in dire performance

"There will be more scores in some of the World Cup games," quipped one spectator at the end of this desperately drab Leinster JFC semi-final at Pairc Tailteann. The punters who paid in to see this encounter at the Brews Hill venue on Wednesday evening of last week could be forgiven if they had tried to get their entrance fee back on their way out the gate. The entertainment value was practically nil and they could have argued that the fixture countervened the trades description act in that it lacked any real competitive edge. There was little in the way of exciting, fast-flowing footbal produced by either team and it was on one of Cavan's rare attacks that they managed to conjure up the goal that in the end made all the difference. There was just five minutes remaining when Philip Brady broke down the right and picked out midfielder Lorcan Mulvey with a centre. For once the Meath defence went AWOL leaving Mulvey in splended isolation and he had time to collect the ball, pick his spot and fire passed a helpless Shane Geraghty. An evening to forget for Meath ended when full-forward Casey Dunne was sent off by referee Sean Carroll. An incident off the ball took place between Dunne and defender Eoin McPhillips with the Cavanman left stretched out on the ground. The referee was following play and blew the final whistle before his attention was drawn by the linesman. Carroll then called Casey to him and displayed the red card much to the bewilderment of the Meath player who left the field shaking his head. That incident was the most controversial that took place all evening as both sides served up a contest that was as grey and drab as the overcast sky. There are those who feel that the JFC should be scrapped and they could point to contests like this as ammunition for their argument. Of course in every competition there are below par games and this certainly fitted into that category. On the face of it this competition is an opportunity for players from the lower-based clubs to show what they can do and there was certainly no shortage of effort when it came to either set of players. They just never got into the swing of things. Tommy Carr made the effort to get to the game but how many players he will call into the Cavan senior squad in the coming week or two is a moot point. Eoin Smith, Padraig Cahill and Mulvey did reasonably well in the blue while McPhillips was also in the thick of things and he made a decisive intervention late on to prevent a Meath score. On the home front Stephen MacGabhann showed why he was once a member of the senior set-up with some enterprising play, while Barry Lynch, Paddy Gilsenan, Gerry Farrelly and Eoin Gilsenan also showed a hunger and a sharpness that indicated they wanted to impress. The opening half was a litany of misplaced passes with Meath players the main culprits. Time and again promising moves were brought to an abrupt halt by a bad pass or a punt at goal that fell short. Playing with the help of a stiff breeze Meath dominated most of the play in the opening half. Cavan defended stoutly with a blanket defence that smoothered any promising Meath moves. Cavan registered the opening scores of the game when Raymond Galligan fired over from two close range frees in the 3rd and 12th minutes. Some measure of the difficulties Meath encountered in switching on their radar could be seen in the fact that it took them 22 minutes to grab their opening score - a pointed free from Rory Maguire from about 35 metres out. They also registered nine wides in the first-half compared to none from Cavan. On the stroke of half-time Maguire was fouled and Paddy Gilsenan stepped up to slot the ball between the posts with his cultured left foot. O-2 to 0-2 at the break and the punters hoped for better to come. They were to be disappointed as the game continued in the same scappy vein. On 41 minutes a good move involving seven players ended with Gilsenan pointing to edge the home side ahead. Shortly afterwards Philip Brady equalised with Cavan's only point from play. Then Mulvey struck with his goal. Eoin Gilsenan responded with a point from play to give Meath some hope. That hope evaporated when Eamonn Reilly fired between the posts in the closing minutes to seal Cavan's narrow win. SCORERS Cavan - L Mulvey 1-0; R Galligan 0-2, two frees; P Brady 0-1; E Reilly 0-1, free. Meath - P Gilsenan 0-2, one free; R Maguire 0-1 free; E Gilsenan 0-1. TEAMS Cavan - D Murphy; E McPhillips. E Smith, M Johnston; D O'Dowd, P Cahill, K Donohoe; L Mulvey (1-0), A Taite; D Costello, R Galligan, S Jordan; J McCabe, D McKiernan, P Brady. Subs - E Reilly for McCabe 45 mins, P Bird for McKiernan 51m, N O'Reilly for Donohoe 59m. Meath - S Geraghty; G Farrelly, S Clynch, P Young; T Farrelly, S MacGabhann, M Shankey; B Lynch, T Skelly; P Gilsenan, R Maguire, C Mallon; D Morgan, C Dunne, E Gilsenan. Subs - P Weldon for Young 35mins, D Carroll for Morgan 47m, C Rowe for Shankey 52m, A Farrell for Skelly 59m. Referee - Sean Carroll (Westmeath).