Meath dictate in newry for merited victory
Second-half goals from substitute Bryan Menton in the 55th minute and Padraic Harnan close to the final whistle gave Meath a thoroughly merited 2-11 to 0-10 NFL Div 2 victory against hosts Down at Newry this evening in
difficult conditions.
Meath manager Mick O'Dowd had to watch the action from the well appointed press box in Páirc Esler as he served a one-match
ban for comments made after last week's game against Roscommon.
The manager made two changes to the announced starting line up with Shane O'Rourke and Conor Gillespie, who was outstanding at midfield, coming in for Mickey Newman and Menton.
Gillespie and Adam Flanagan were in excellent form at midfield as Meath showed some of their traditional battling qualities
Meath were ahead by 0-6 to 0-4 at the interval, but Down had squandered a lot of chances in that opening half.
Down lost Mark Poland to an early second-half black card and in a separate incident soon after Meath's Brian Power also saw a black card - he was replaced by David Dalton.
Meath kept possession well as they dealt confidently with the elements with an outstanding performance also from James McEntee.
Meath - Paddy O’Rourke; Donncha Tobin, Conor McGill, Donal Keogan; Mickey Burke, Kevin Reilly, Brian Power;Conor Gillespie, Adam Flanagan; Graham Reilly, Padraic Harnan; James Mc Entee; Eamon Wallace, Shane O'Rourke, Mark O Sullivan. Subs - Mickey Newman for O'Rourke, Bryan Menton for Reilly half-time; Stephen Bray for Eamon Wallace, Joey Wallace for Mark O'Sullivan, Sean Tobin for Gillespie.
NFL DIV 2 TABLE
P W D L F A Pts
DOWN 6 4 0 2 101 90 8
MEATH 6 3 1 2 94 80 7
CAVAN 6 3 1 2 76 73 7
R'COMMON 5 3 1 1 88 83 7
LAOIS 6 2 1 2 86 86 5
KILDARE 6 2 0 4 93 100 4
GALWAY 5 2 0 3 77 81 4
W'MEATH 6 2 0 4 75 97 4
SATURDAY RESULTS
Cavan 1-8 Westmeath 1-3
Down 0-10 Meath 2-11
Laois 1-9 Kildare 1-12
NEXT UP
SUNDAY
Roscommon v Galway.
SUNDAY 5th APRIL
Meath v Cavan; Westmeath v Roscommon; Down v Laois; Galway v Kildare.