End of the road for ladies

There is no substitute for class and Meath found that out to their cost at Birr on Saturday afternoon as their dream of Ladies All-Ireland SFC glory died at the quarter-final stage against a supremely talented Monaghan side. Meath enjoyed a remarkable run this season securing NFL Div 1 status for 2012, defeating All-Ireland champions Dublin in the Leinster SFC semi-final and coming within a whisker of claiming the provincial crown. There is no doubting the depth of quality on the Meath team, but they came up against a superb Monaghan side that ran incessantly, tackled in packs, dominated at midfield and had lightning pace in attack. The trio of Ciara McAnespie, Caoimhe Mohan and Caitriona McConnell ensured Monaghan were more than capable of keeping the scoreboard ticking over. Even the deployment of Jenny Rispin as an extra defender didn't have the desired effect. Goals win games and Monaghan found the net at crucial times to render Meath's late dominance futile. Meath never gave up and worked tremendously hard throughout. Kellie Allen was superb, but an accumulation of fouls earned her a 42nd minute yellow card and 10 minutes in the sin-bin at a crucial time when Meath were threatening a revival. The numbers on the jerseys bore no resemblance to the positions of the Meath players. They moved all over the field and that contributed to a lack of fluency despite the drive of Katie O'Brien, Allen, Eileen Rahill and Fiona Mahon. It was only when Meath resorted to pumping in high ball to Mary Sheridan that they enjoyed some luck, but their late endeavours found little reward as Monaghan eased into the semi-finals. Monaghan's margin of victory could have been greater were it not for the excellence of Irene Munnelly who made some fine saves. Meath started well and Elaine Duffy converted a second minute free, but with the Monaghan attack causing problems, Meath conceded too many frees. The Ulster champions took advantage with Niamh Kindlon (two) and McConnell, free and a '45' converting frees to give their side a 0-4 to 0-1 lead. Matters took a turn for the worse early in the second quarter when Aoife McAnespie set up Therese McNally to run through the Meath defence and bury the ball in the net. Duffy responded with a pointed free, but Monaghan replied with points from Ciara McAnespie, McConnell and Mohan before O'Brien scored Meath's first point from play. Just before the break Meath were denied a goal when Linda Martin made a point blank save from Grainne Nulty to ensure Monaghan led by 1-7 to 0-3 at the interval. Monaghan burst from the traps with Kindlon converting a free after Mahon had fouled Mohan off-the-ball. From the kick-out Edel McCarron won possession and released Mohan who split the Meath defence and rattled the net. Meath's afternoon continued to plummet when Mohan and Kindlon added further points to make it 2-10 to 0-3. Geraldine Doherty traded a point with McConnell before Meath's best spell brought a brace of points for substitute Vivienne McCormack (pictured). However, Allen's sin-binning was followed by settling points from Mohan and Laura McEnaney as Monaghan closed their account. The Ulster champions lost Amanda Casey to the sin-bin for a foul on O'Brien which resulted in the St Ultan's player being stretchered off, but Meath were chasing a lost cause at that stage and despite late scores from Rispin and Mahon (free) they were well beaten by serious All-Ireland contenders. Monaghan - L Martin; G McNally, S Courtney, C Reilly; A McAnespie, N Fahy, L Connolly; A Casey, C Courtney; T McNally (1-0), E McCarron, C McConnell (0-4 two frees); C McAnespie (0-1), N Kindlon (0-4 frees), C Mohan (1-3). Subs - L McEnaney (0-1) for McCarron 42 mins, E McIlroy for Connolly 46m. Meath - I Munnelly; L McKeever, A Murray, O Sheridan; F Mahon (0-1 free), E Rahill, K Allen; K O'Brien (0-2 one free), G Nulty; C O'Shaughnessy, E Duffy (0-1 free), S Bennett; J Rispin (0-1), M Sheridan, G Doherty (0-1). Subs - V McCormack (0-2) for Duffy half-time, B Lynch for Bennett 39 mins, A Carolan for Doherty 46m, Bennett for O'Brien 46m.