Meath open NFL campaign with victory

Meath got their NFL Div 2 campaign off to a winning start with an impressive 1-10 to 0-8 victory over an Armagh side that failed to score in the second-half and finished with 14 men following the 66th minute dismissal of their captain Aidan Forker at Pairc Tailteann today.

Armagh looked capable of fully exploiting their wind advantage in the first-half when they raced into a 0-3 to 0-0 lead inside five minutes.

Gavin McPartland got the ball rolling after just 40 seconds when he volleyed over a loose ball after Donal Keogan had done well to get a slight touch.

Two minutes later Colm Watters doubled Armagh’s lead when he pointed, unchallenged, from 40 metres and in the fifth minute Stefan Campball was also afforded the freedom of Pairc Tailteann to loft over untroubled.

A string of tightly knitted passes involving Keogan, Brian Power and Darragh Smyth set up Cillian O’Sullivan for Meath’s opening score in the seventh minute and with the defence tightening up they quickly grew in confidence.

That confidence was epitomised by the outrageous skill produced by Mickey Newman for Meath’s 10th minute goal. After playing a one-two with O’Sullivan, Padraic Harnan released Newman who tricked and teased the Armagh defence before finishing low to the corner for a 1-1 to 0-3 lead.

O’Sullivan stretched the hosts lead seconds later, but Armagh continued to take advantage of the strong wind at their backs with Miceal McKenna and Ethan Rafferty pointing in a 30-second spell to level the contest by the 12th minute.

After pulling a 30-metre free badly wide Newman made amends with a fine score off his left to restore Meath’s lead, but Armagh continued to press with Rafferty dragging a goal chance wide.

Gavin McPartland restored parity for the second time from 45 metres, and it was Armagh who took a 0-8 to 1-4 interval lead with Stefan Forker and McKenna pointing either side of a Newman free.

Facing into the strong wind for the second period Armagh sought to apply more pressure and numbers in defence. That tactic resulted in a big dip in the quality of football, but it was no less entertaining as Meath defended well.

Despite having the wind at their backs it still took Meath six minutes to draw level with Newman converting a free from 20 metres. Converting frees was the trend of the half for Meath with five of their six second-half scores coming from placed balls.

Newman edged Meath ahead again in the 44th minute from a free for a foul that led to Aidan Forker’s first yellow card and six minutes later substitute Sean Tobin made it 1-7 to 0-8 with a brilliantly converted free from the right hand side.

Meath’s only score from play in the half came from an unlikely source with Keogan taking advantage of a clever break by Rooney to gallop through the heart of the Armagh defence and tap over.

Armagh did have a couple of chances, but most of their efforts dropped short, while down the other end Meath missed a glorious goal chance when O’Sullivan failed to connect with Tobin’s clever centre.

Newman converted his third point, second from a free, with 11 minutes remaining to make it 1-9 to 0-8 and when Aidan Forker was issued his second yellow card for a late challenge on O’Sullivan he saw red and left Armagh with no chance.

Meath finished out the game on their own terms and it was Newman who closed the scoring with another 50-metre to get the Royal bid for promotion off to a positive start.