Extra-time blues for Meath at Parnell Park

A freezing cold night at Parnell Park towards the end of January is not representative of the white heat of the championship summer, but Meath and Dublin gave an indication of what might lie ahead as the hosts claimed the O'Byrne Shield with a thrilling extra-time victory. There were many errors on both sides and there is still a huge amount of improvement to be made before the Leinster SFC gets underway, but Meath and Dublin showed enough to suggest that the future is bright for both. If this was a championship outing, Meath would be very disappointed as they made many basic errors and kicked 17 wides. They were also exposed at the back on several occasions. There is huge room for improvement, but the mission of the O'Byrne Cup and Shield campaigns was to give players their chance to shine on the inter-county stage and some grabbed it with both hands. Meath manager Seamus McEnaney opted to go with a stronger team for this game, compared to previous outings. He recalled Kevin Reilly, Seamus Kenny, Mark Ward, Shane O'Rourke and Joe Sheridan to his starting 15 and all had mixed fortunes. Shane O'Rourke both enjoyed and endured his evening's work. The talented Simonstown man finished with four points to his credit, but he was also responsible for five wides and kicked two other efforts short into Stephen Cluxton's arms. It is a measure of his confidence that he never shirked responsibility. Even when his shooting boots deserted him he never gave up working hard for the team and did manage to create over a dozen decent scoring opportunities for himself. O'Rourke wasn't the only established Meath attacker that suffered from the jitters in front of the posts. Remarkably, Joe Sheridan finished with 2-2, but some of the chances he missed were totally out of character and he also struck the post in the first-half. It is remarkable that the two forwards who contributed 2-6 between them were also responsible for 10 of Meath's wides! Both are outstanding target men and could have benefited from others operating closer to them, especially in the second-half and in extra-time when breaking ball in attack mostly fell in Dublin's favour. The 28th minute introduction of Graham Reilly (pictured) in place of the struggling David Morgan did add some impetus to a Meath attack that spluttered through the first half-hour despite enjoying a productive opening few minutes. The St Colmcille's man contributed three superb scores and looked a menace. However, his lack of game time and the exertions of heavy training took a toll on him as he was unable to maintain that form throughout. Despite the malaise of the wayward shooting there are enough positives. Over 35 decent scoring chances were created and fringe players such as Conor Gillespie impressed at midfield as did Bryan Menton at centre-back, Gary O'Brien at corner-back and Paddy Gilsenan at corner-forward. Mark Ward gave glimpses of his style that can both amaze and frustrate. He made some superb catches and distributed some brilliant passes, but he also gave the ball away carelessly for a Diarmuid Connolly point and produced some clumsy defending. Gilsenan was very unfortunate throughout. He won a lot of ball and received plenty of rough treatment from the Dublin rearguard, but received very little protection from referee Sean Carroll. His reward was the equalising point that forced extra-time. As well as the decent impressions by the newcomers, Meath can reflect that 1-12 came from play. The manager also managed to get valuable game time into the legs of O'Rourke, Nigel Crawford, Anthony Moyles and Sheridan so the O'Byrne Shield was a very worthwhile experience, if ultimately an unsuccessful one. Dublin were overwhelming favourites ahead of the game, but less than a minute into it they were two points adrift as Meath burst from the traps with points from Brian Farrell and Sheridan. The impressive Kevin McManamon replied for Dublin before 2010 footballer-of-the-year Bernard Brogan pointed the first of his four frees to restore parity. Graham Cullen edged the hosts ahead when he flicked Tomas Quinn's free over the bar, but before the end of the first-quarter Meath were ahead again when O'Rourke and Sheridan pointed to make it 0-4 to 0-3. Despite their bright start Meath were stretched at the back. Kevin Reilly was forced to foul McManamon and Brogan tapped over the resultant free and a minute later a superb pass from Dean Kelly released Brogan who found Quinn and he held off O'Brien to finish well to the net. Declan Lally won the subsequent kick-out and pointed. In the space of four minutes Meath went from a point ahead to 0-4 to 1-5 adrift. O'Rourke and Connolly traded points before a melee threatened to break out, but that was quickly quelled. Sheridan went close when he hit the butt of the post from distance with Cluxton well beaten, but McManamon who stretched Dublin's lead with a point. Two points from Graham Reilly were countered by scores from Connolly and McManamon as Dublin took a 1-9 to 0-7 interval lead. That lead rarely looked like slipping from Dublin's grasp. As Meath squandered chance after chance, Dublin punished them. McManamon, Brogan, Quinn and Bryan Cullen added points while Graham Reilly and O'Rourke responded for Meath. With five minutes remaining Meath looked doomed as they trailed by 0-10 to 1-13. However, in typical Royal fashion, they stunned Dublin. Sheridan rifled a superb penalty to the net after O'Rourke was fouled by Daly and closing points from Cian Ward, Gillespie and Gilsenan ensured extra-time, 1-13 each. Dublin used their bench wisely in the added period and looked livelier. They netted 25 seconds into extra-time when Paddy Andrews ghosted through the Meath defence before setting up Cullen for a simple punch to the net. Cian Ward and Barry Cahill traded points before Sheridan netted brilliantly to leave the sides level at the break, 2-14 each. However, in the second period of extra-time Dublin secured the Shield with a Brogan free and an Andrews point as Meath were left to rue those 17 wides. Dublin - S Cluxton; D Daly, S Murray, M Fitzsimons; D Lally, G Brennan, P Casey; D Bastick, C Murphy; D Kelly, K McManamon, D Connolly; B Brogan, G Cullen, T Quinn. Subs – P Flynn for Connolly half-time, B Cullen (1-1) for McManamon 43mins, A Brogan for G Cullen 50m, A Hubbard for Fitzsimons 55m, B Cahill (0-1) for Murphy 55m; extra-time changes - M Savage for Cluxton, P Andrews for Quinn, M D MacAuley for Bastick, W Lowry for Kelly, J McCarthy for Daly; Subs - C McKiernan for Casey, K McManamon for B Brogan, T Quinn for Lally, D Bastick for Brennan. Meath - P O'Rourke; G O'Brien, K Reilly, C King; S Kenny, B Menton, C McGuinness; M Ward, C Gillespie (0-1); S McAnarney, S O'Rourke (0-4, one free), D Morgan; P Gilsenan (0-1), J Sheridan (2-2, 1-0 penalty), B Farrell (0-1). Subs – G Reilly (0-3) for Morgan 28 mins, B Meade for K Reilly half-time, N Crawford for M Ward 42m, A Moyles for Farrell 42m, C Ward (0-2, one free) for McGuinness; extra-time – Farrell for Gilsenan, D Dalton for McAnarney, D Keoghan for Kenny. Referee – Sean Carroll (Westmeath).