Meath minor hurlers edged out

Westmeath edged out Meath by 1-17 to 0-15 in a tight Leinster MHC second round tie at Cusack Park, Mullingar this afternoon.

This was a brave Meath performance, but they just came up short in the closing minutes of each half.

Sean O'Brien gave wind-assisted Westmeath the perfect start with four points from play in the opening five minutes, but the hosts also tallied a similar number of wides as Meath struggled to get out of their own half.

Howver, Mikey Cullen opened Meath's account with a well-struck effort from play in the sixth minute and as the game opend up a bit the Royal County found a rhythm and trailed by only two points (0-4 to 0-6) at the end of the first-quarter.

Cullen added another brace from play while Peter Farrell converted a free with James Murphy and Marcus Kennedy hitting the target for the hosts who looked sharper despite some poor finishing.

Darragh O'Reilly for Westmeath and Farrell from a free for Meath traded further points, but with Ronan Byrne, who moved to midfield, Sean Coffey and Conor McNally at full-forward, working hard, Meath stayed in the game until the closing minutes of the half when Westmeath added late points from Marcus Kennedy, Loughlin and Ciaran O'Brien and that gave the hosts a 0-10 to 0-5 lead at the interval. 

Meath produced a great third-quarter with three points from Farrell (two frees), Ronan Byrne (two), Cullen and Ben McGowan which drew the sides level, briefly, at 0-12 each. Marcus Kennedy and Ciaran O'Brien (free) sustained a faltering Westmeath challenge until Kennedy finished to the net for a 1-12 to 0-12 lead for the hosts.

Meath found a positive response in the form of points from Farrell (free), Cullen and Byrne to tie it up again with eight minutes remaining.

However, at that stage Westmeath found a little bit extra although they had to rely on Brian McHugh to make a point-blank save from Meath's Will Flynn and at the other end the hosts sent over from O'Brien (two), O'Reilly, Kennedy and Eoin Fox.

Westmeath – Brian McHugh; Daniel Reilly, Patrick Fagan, Charles Flynn; Leon Broderick, Naoise McKenna, James Bermingham; Conor McCrossan, Jack O’Brien; Sean O’Brien (0-4), James Murphy (0-1), Darragh O’Reilly (0-2); Marcus Kennedy (1-4), Sean Loughlin (0-1), Ciaran O’Brien (0-4 three frees).

Subs – Dean Core for Flynn 38 mins, Eoin Fox (0-1) for Loughlin 40m, C Lynch for Murphy 56m.

Meath – Charlie Ennis (Trim); Brian Reilly (Killyon), James McNally (Kildalkey), Brian Kelly (Kildalkey); Will Flynn (Na Fianna), Sean Martin (Na Fianna), Jacob Ryan (Killyon); Conor McNally (Kiltale), Sean Coffey (Na Fianna); Ben McGowan (Ratoath 0-1), Peter Farrell (Trim 0-6 five frees), Conor Hayes (Kildalkey); Mikey Cullen (Trim 0-5), Ronan Byrne (Na Fianna 0-3), Brian Dowling (Trim).

Subs – Michael Mullen (Killyon) for Hayes 26 mins, Adam Murphy for Mullen 50m, Tom Fadden (Ratoath) for Dowling 58m, Darragh Kilmartin (Dunboyne) for McNally 59m.

Referee – Michael O'Sullivan (Kilkenny)