Meath salvage a nfl div 2 draw in navan
Meath faltered on the road that could lead to the top flight of league football when they were held to NFL Div 2 draw (0-13 each) by Laois in front of the Setanta television cameras at Páirc Táilteann tonight – and after leading well at half-time Meath were fortunate to salvage a draw.
Mickey Newman's point had Meath in front early, but Brendan Quigley drew the sides level in the third minute.
Meath dictated the exchanges for most of the half and added further points without too much difficulty from Newman (six), Stephen Bray and Bryan Menton to lead by 0-9 to 0-4 at the interval.
Laois completed their first-half tally through Donal Kingston, Conor Boyle and substitute Paul Kingston and they also lost defender Gearoid Hanrahan to a 10th minute injury.
The second-half followed a similar pattern during the early exchanges as Graham Reilly and Newman (free) traded points with Donie Kingston who sent over a brace.
However, Meath's grip on the game loosened as Laois added points through a Donie Kingston (free), a '45' from Darren Strong and a brace from John O'Loughlin that reduced the deficit to the minimum (0-10 to 0-11) with 15 minutes remaining.
Paul Kingston drew the sides level soon after as Meath missed a couple of easy-looking chances, but Meath regained the lead through Bryan Menton with 10 minutes remaining.
Laois countered and hit the front with Donie Kingston and Ross Munnelly on target and it required a late equaliser by Eamon Wallace to earn a draw.
Meath - Patrick O Rourke; Donncha Tobin, Conor McGill, Mickey Burke; Nicky Judge, Donal Keogan, Brian Power; Bryan Menton (0-2), Adam Flanagan; Graham Reilly (0-1), Padraic Harnan, Andrew Tormey; Mark O Sullivan, Stephen Bray (0-1), Michael Newman (0-8 six frees). Subs – Damien Carroll for Harnan 59 mins, Eamon Wallace (0-1) for O'Sullivan 60m, Joseph Wallace for Tormey 62m, Sean Tobin for Menton 64m, Simon Carty for Judge 70m.
SUNDAY
Westmeath v Down
Kildare v Roscommon
Galway v Cavan
TABLE
TEAM P W D L F A Pts
DOWN 4 3 0 1 68 63 6
MEATH 4 2 1 1 63 54 5
GALWAY 3 2 0 1 57 53 4
W'MEATH 4 2 0 2 59 63 4
LAOIS 4 1 1 2 58 61 3
ROSMON 3 1 1 1 48 51 3
CAVAN 4 1 1 2 53 57 3
KILDARE 4 1 0 3 60 64 2