Disappointing display leads to early exit for Meath ladies

Clare 1-11, Meath 1-10 Naomi Carroll plunged a dagger into the heart of Meath's Ladies All-Ireland SFC aspirations when she struck a last minute point to secure victory for Clare in this round two qualifier at Birr on Saturday. Meath went into the game as heavy favourites, but Clare produced an outstanding defensive display to hold their opponents to just three second-half points. Even the outstanding efforts of Katie O'Brien couldn't prevent Meath from falling. The St Ultan's player was magnificent throughout, but there was an over-reliance on her for scores and Meath suffered as no other forward managed to get on the scoresheet. The harsh yellow card dispensed to Jenny Rispin for slightly tugging Niamh O'Dea's jersey with four minutes remaining sent the Summerhill player to the sin-bin and Clare took advantage. Meath started well and were ahead after only 40 seconds when Rispin won a poor clearance and laid off to Vivienne McCormack who found O'Brien unmarked and with the simple task of tapping over. Clare proved they would be no pushovers and were ahead within two minutes as O'Dea pointed a free and then added one from play after Niamh Keane won Irene Munnelly's kick-out. A scrappy period of play ended with Meath taking the initiative again. O'Brien doubled her tally from a free and Shauna Bennett made it 0-3 to 0-2. Again Clare rallied. Ailish Considine restored parity before she picked out Maria Kelly with a brilliant pass and the Clare star netted from close range to give the Munster side a 1-3 to 0-3 advantage. O'Dea stretched that lead to four with a superb score, but then Meath hit back when Bennett picked out O'Brien who produced a brilliant finish to rattle the net. Carroll's first point edged Clare two clear again, but with O'Brien proving flawless from frees Meath were on level terms again (1-5 to 1-5). Considine's free restored Clare's lead six minutes before the break, but O'Brien pointed twice more to hand Meath a 1-7 to 1-6 interval lead. Despite playing against the wind, Meath were expected to kick on and pull further clear after the resumption, but they struggled to find momentum and scores. Bennett took just two minutes to stretch Meath's lead to 1-8 to 1-6, but that proved to be their last score for 15 minutes as Clare defended superbly and were back on level terms by the eighth minute through O'Dea and Kelly. The introduction of Laura Dempsey added significant pace to the Meath attack, but the Boardsmill girl was harshly penalised on several occasions for overcarrying and that slowed up Meath's momentum. Clare moved two points clear at the end of the third-quarter as O'Dea (free) and Considine pointed. A superb score from Fiona Mahon was followed by a bad miss by O'Brien (free), but with five minutes remaining O'Brien restored parity from close range. Meath were on the front foot, but with four minutes remaining they lost Rispin to that yellow card. As the final hooter approached the Munster side took advantage of that extra space and it Carroll popped up to fire over the winning score with seconds remaining. Clare - E O'Driscoll; S Kelly, L Kelly, L Ryan; R Rooney, L Henchy, M Delaney; M Considine, F Lafferty; N Carroll (0-2), N Keane, M Kelly (1-1); N Lardner, N O'Dea (0-5 two frees), Ailish Considine (0-3 one free). Sub - S Harvey for Lardner half-time. Meath - I Munnelly; O Byrne, A Murray, O Sheridan; E Troy, E Rahill, H Regan; S Bennett (0-2), F Mahon (0-1); M Sheridan, K O'Brien (1-7 three frees), J Rispin; V McCormack, A Thompson, B Lynch. Subs - M Peel for Regan 19 mins, L Dempsey for Thompson and J Byrne for Lynch both 42m, G Doherty for McCormack 55m. Referee - Sean Joy (Kerry).