Magnificent Meath win at O'Moore Park
Meath showed great character at O'Moore Park last night as they secured a vital brace of NFL Div 2 points with a 0-15 to 1-10 victory over hosts Laois only six days after an equally impressive display against Donegal in Ballybofey.
The victory was all the more noteworthy as Meath trailed by 0-5 to 1-7 at the interval after making a positive start with points from Shane O'Rourke and Andrew Tormey.
Further points from Michael Newman (two) and O'Rourke completed the first-half tally, but a Ross Munnelly penalty goal helped Laois forge clear.
Early second-half points from O'Rourke and Newman (two each) got Meath off to a positive start for the second-half.
Meath maintained the momentum and Bryan McMahon and Newman (two) split the Laois posts which tied the scores at 0-12 to 1-9 before Menton and substitutes David Bray and Graham Reilly added points for victory.
Meath now have a well-earned break before they return to Navan on Saturday 29th March to tackle Down.
However, u-21 players Bryan McMahon and Padraic Harnan will be in action at Parnell Park in the Leinster u-21 FC semi-final against Offaly on Wednesday night next.
Meath - Paddy O'Rourke; Mickey Burke, Kevin Reilly, Eoghan Harrington; Sean Curran, Donal Keogan, Damien Carroll; Bryan Menton (0-1), Shane O'Rourke (0-4); Donncha Tobin, Dalton McDonagh, Andrew Tormey (0-1); Bryan McMahon (0-1), Stephen Bray, Michael Newman (0-6).
Subs - David Bray (0-1) for McDonagh, Padraic Harnan for Curran, Graham Reilly (0-1) for Tobin.
Goalkeeper Paddy O'Rourke (see action photo) tweeted:
The strength of our character & never say die attitude was really on show 2night! Massive week in our season, 3points on the road!
NFL DIV 2 TABLE
Donegal 4 3 1 0 76 49 7
Monaghan 5 3 1 1 84 61 7
Down 4 2 1 1 63 49 5
Armagh 5 2 1 2 80 80 5
Meath 5 2 1 2 81 90 5
Laois 5 2 0 3 77 83 4
Galway 4 1 0 3 58 77 2
Louth 4 0 1 3 48 78 1
REMAINING FIXTURES
Today - Down v Donegal; Louth v Galway.
29th March - Meath v Down.
30th March - Donegal v Louth; GHalway v Armagh; Monaghan v Laois.
5th April - Louth v Meath; Laois v Down; Armagh v Donegal; Monaghan v Galway.
Conall Collier