Meath scrape past determined Carlow

It won't be remembered as a classic when the season is being assessed at the end of the year, but Meath showed admirable spirit to rally with late scores to secure a narrow 0-9 to 0-7 O'Byrne Cup second round win over hosts Carlow at Dr Cullen Park tonight. The victory for Meath sets them up nicely for a third round game against Wicklow in Pairc Tailteann on Sunday where a win over the Garden County will secure a place in the last four of the preseason competition. As the game ticked into the 66th minute Meath's participation in the O'Byrne Cup (they had a bye in the first round) looked like coming to an early end as Carlow led by 0-7 to 0-6 and had dropped everybody back into their own half to defend their lead. However with substantial additional time to be played because of a bizarre incident which saw referee Seamus Mulhare consult with his umpires on a free he missed, Meath still had plenty of time and were patient. That patience was rewarded when Ben Brennan capped a fine display with the equalising point and then Donal Lenihan edged Meath ahead before Brennan sealed the win with another fine score to bring his personal tally to four. The opening half was littered with inaccuracies. Not just the efforts at the target which saw Carlow miss six times in contrast to Meath's four wayward kicks, but with the standard of the long kick deliveries and short quick handpassing that resulted in countless breakdowns and unforced errors. After sharing six wides in the opening nine minutes, Meath eventually opened the scoring in the 10th minute when Ben Brennan converted a 35-metre free after John Murphy picked up a yellow card for a foul on Graham Reilly. A minute later Wolfe Tones' Thomas O'Reilly doubled Meath's lead with a fine effort and while Andy McEntee's side dominated possession and were clearly the better side they struggled to break through the well-manned Carlow rearguard. Darragh O'Brien, a son of the Carlow manager Turlough, got the hosts off the mark in the 22nd minute when he burst through two tackles to score, but Meath restored their two-point cushion a couple of minutes later when Donal Lenihan pointed from play. A high tackle on John Murphy earned Brennan a 28th minute yellow card and from the resultant free O'Brien narrowed the deficit to the minimum, 0-2 to 0-3. Six minutes before the break Meath saw a decent goal chance go abegging when Graham Reilly lost his footing after being put through by Brennan and three minutes later Carlow were level when Diarmuid Walshe converted a free after Shane McEntee fouled Liam Roberts. The side's seemed destined to be deadlocked at the break, but as the 35 minutes expired Brennan kicked the score of the half with a fine effort from the right with the outside of his left boot to make it 0-4 to 0-3 at half-time. It took Carlow just 21 seconds to find an equaliser when Darragh Foley pointed and four minutes later they were ahead for the first time when Walsh converted a brilliant free to make it 0-5 to 0-4. Lenihan replied for Meath within seconds and by the 43rd minute the visitors were ahead again when Graham Reilly scored a trademark point. Carlow were denied a goal when debutant goalkeeper Andy Colgan made a superb double save to firstly deny Walshe and then O'Brien before Daniel St Ledger converted the resulting '45' to tie the scores for the fourth time, 0-6 each. There was confusion in the 49th minute when Brían Conlon looked to have got a touch on Reilly's fisted pass to deflect the ball to the net, but the umpires adjudged the ball to have crossed the line before the Simonstown man's touch and the 'goal' was disallowed. Walshe capitalised on that let off to edge Carlow ahead with 20 minutes remaining, but as both sides took advantage of unlimited substitutions play became very fragmented until the closing few minutes when Meath showed the greater poise to claim the victory. Meath - Andrew Colgan (Donaghmore/Ashbourne); Dan O'Neill (Wolfe Tones), Conor McGill (Ratoath), Shane Gallagher (Simonstown Gaels); Seamus Lavin (Dunboyne), Brian Power (Ratoath), Shane McEntee (Dunboyne); Bryan Menton (Donaghmore/Ashbourne), Adam Flanagan (Clonard); James McEntee (Curraha), Ben Brennan (St Colmcille's 0-4 one free), Graham Reilly (St Colmcille's 0-1); Thomas O'Reilly (Wolfe Tones 0-1), Donal Lenihan (Dunboyne 0-3), Robbie Garry (Rathkenny). Subs – Mickey Burke (Longwood) for Gallagher 32 mins, Brían Conlon (Simonstown Gaels) for O'Reilly 43m, Sean Tobin (Simonstown Gaels) for Garry 53m, Mark McCabe (Simonstown Gaels) for Flanagan 56m, Shane Glynn (Wolfe Tones) for O'Neill 67m. Carlow – Craig Kearney; Liam Roberts, Shane Redmond, Conor Lawlor; Jordan Morrissey, Daniel St Ledger (0-1 '45'), Ciaran Moran; Danny Moran, Sean Murphy; Liam Sheppard, Darragh Foley (0-1), Darragh O'Brien (0-2 one free); Conor Crowley, Diarmuid Walshe (0-3 two frees), John Murphy. Subs – Kieran Nolan for J Murphy 33 mins, Robbie Molloy for Kearney, Jamie Clarke for S Murphy , Benny Kavanagh for Morrissey all half-time, Brian Cawley for Roberts 55m, Gary Kelly for Lawlor 59m, Lee Walker for Crowley 67m. Black Card – D St Ledger (replaced by J Murphy 65m). Referee – Seamus Mulhare (Laois).