Meath earn Leinster final ticket against Louth

Meath qualified for the Leinster JFC final tonight with a thoroughly merited 1-17 to 0-10 win against a Seamus McEnaney-managed Wexford in the last four at Pairc Tailteann.

The goal was a late penalty converted by Kevin Ross awarded after Jason Scully was the victim of a black-card-tackle from Wexford goalkeeper Richard Farrell who was replaced by Nicky Greene.

That goal put the gloss on a solid performance as Meath were superior, but laboured to stamp their authority on the game.

Meath were ahead by 0-7 to 0-6 at the interval after playing some good football in greasy conditions, but they also missed a few opportunities.

Wexford were equally culpable and each side finished the half with five wides apiece.

Daire Rowe converted a brace of frees and also added one from play with further scores from James Conlon, Kevin Ross, Conor Moriarty and Declan Smyth.

Wexford stayed in touch through three Sean Ryan points, and one apiece from Sean Kelly, Jake Firman (free) and midfielder Tom Byrne.

The teams were level on four occasions in the opening quarter, but Meath enjoyed a brief period of dominance subsequently before they were reeled in close to the interval.

Unanswered points from Meath in 10 second-half minutes from Paddy Kennelly and Rowe (two each) and Ben Brennan eased the hosts into the comfort zone and that revived Wexford briefly who countered with four points to reduce the deficit to 0-10 to 0-12 by the three-quarter stage.

That was the wake up call that Meath heeded and the response was in the form of points from the two substitutes Stephen Coogan (two) and Jason Scully and Kennelly

That was sufficient to curtail the Wexford revival with the late penalty goal followed by a David Toner point.

Meath - Johnny Lynch; Adam Lynch, Luke Moran, Michael Flood; David Toner (0-1), Declan Smyth (0-1), Joe Sweeney; Adam Flanagan, Conor Farrell; Paddy Kennelly (0-3), Ben Brennan (0-1), Conor Moriarty (0-1); James Conlon (0-1), Daire Rowe (0-5 four frees), Kevin Ross (1-1 pen goal). Subs - Kevin Traynor for Smyth half-time, Jason Scully (0-1) for Moriarty 37 mins, Stephen Coogan (0-2) for Conlon 47m, Cathal McConnell for Brennan 59m.

Wexford - R Farrell; P O'Keeffe, C Lane, D Redmond; D Bolger, P Devine, T Rossiter; P Devereux (0-2), T Byrne (0-1); J Firman (0-1 free), M Rossiter (0-1 free), S Kelly (0-1); J Stafford, S Ryan (0-3), R Nolan. Subs - L Devereux for Stafford 23 mins, J Roche (0-1) for O'Keeffe half-time, J Swords for Bolger 40m, M Doyle for Redmond 58m.
Black card - R Farrell (replaced by N Greene 59m).

Referee - David Hickey (Carlow).

 NEXT UP

Meath will play Louth in the Leinster JFC final at Croke Park on Sunday 25th June.