Meath into Hastings Cup final
Meath advanced to the final of the Hastings Cup today at Lynch Park, Abbeylara when they recorded a hard-earned, but merited 2-9 to 1-8 victory against a strong Cavan team.
Meath shaded the exchanges in each half and were ahead by 2-5 to 1-5 at the interval after a two-goal salvo in the space of a minute close to the interval.
Moynalvey's David McLoughlin fired to the net in the 23rd minute and 60 seconds later it was the turn of Gaeil Colmcille's Fionn Reilly.
Cavan recovered well from that setback and reeled off three pointed frees from their top scorer Caoimhin O'Reilly who scored all the first-half points.
Cavan's goal arrived in the fourth minute from Jason McMahon and at that early stage of the contest it appeared as if Meath would be swept away by the more vibrant-looking Ulster side.
However, Meath settled and countered with points from Thomas O'Reilly (three) and midfielder Sean Noonan (two).
The third-quarter was a complete blank on the scoreboard as the game developed into a lot of pulling and dragging, poorhandling, misplaced passes and some over-carrying decisions by the referee that appeared harsh.
The referee, Michael Farrell, opted to play the game without linesmen of any description and this contributed to some intense exchanges over his rulings on the three or four occasions that the ball went out of play.
Meath out-scored Cavan by 0-4 to 0-3 in the second-half with O'Reilly (three) and Sean Meade on the mark.
Meade limped out of the action in added time after claiming a mark for which the referee seemed to miss - he was tackled and sustained the ankle injury that forced his departure.
Cavan countered through O'Reilly, Bryan Magee and Pierce Smith.
Meath will face Longford in the final next Saturday - it's likely that the game will be played at Abbeylara, but that is unconfirmed at this time.
Meath - Adam McDermott (Dunshaughlin); James Reilly (Gaeil Colmcille), Eoin Green (Skryne), Robin Clarke (Duleek/Bellewstwon); James Mooney (Meath Hill), Brian Conlon (Simonstwon Gaels), Sean Reilly (Moylagh); Daniel O'Neill (Wolfe Tones), Sean Noonan (Seneschalstown 0-2); Brian McGrath (Simonstown Gaels), Conor Moriarty (Curraha), Sean Meade (Nobber 0-1); Fionn Reilly (Gaeil Colmcille 1-0), Thomas O'Reilly (Wolfe Tones 0-6), David McLoughlin (Moynalvey 1-0). Subs - Jason Scully (Oldcastle) for Mooney and Eanna O'Kelly-Lynch (Wolfe Tones) for McGrath both half-time, Ethan Devine (Na Fianna) for O'Neill 45 mins, Cathal McConnell (Bective) for F Reilly and Eoin Smyth (Skryne) for McLoughlin 51m, Darragh Campion for Moriarty 59m.
Cavan - Mark fegan; Sean O'Connor, Donal Monahan, David Wilson; Jason McMahon (1-1), Conor Brady, Stuart Dunne ; Cormac Daly, Matthew McKenna; Pierce Smith (0-1), Peter Corrigan, Bryan Magee (0-1); Evan Doughty, Caoimhin O'Reilly (0-5), Conor Smith. Subs - information not available.