Meath survive Derry test

Meath kept on winning as they moved on to the last four of the All-Ireland MFC with a 1-15 to 1-10 quarter-final win against Derry in Armagh today.

This was a tough test for Meath but they came through with flying colours.

Adam Reilly had Meath on the scoreboard with a fine point after only 14 seconds, but Derry replied through Conleth McGuckian's 
second minute pointed free for parity.

Meath countered swiftly with points from Luke Kelly, Cian McBride and Darragh Swaine,  but the Derry lads found a response and were back in contention from a brace of Enda Downey points (one free) before Luke Mitchell gave the Royals a 0-5 to 0-3 first quarter lead.

The conditions made hadnling difficult for both teams, but Meath adapted better and tacked on points from Swaine, David Bell, Mitchell (free) and Kelly and all Derry could muster was a McGuckian free in reply.

At that stage Meath were firmly in the ascendancy, but were relieved when goalkeeper Sean Brennan saved smartly at the expense of a '45' from Derry's Ethan Doherty.

That miss proved costly for the Derry lads when Meath found the net at the other end through Mitchell after a flowing move with Reilly providing the final pass.

Moylalty's Bryan McCormack addedMeath's final point of the half in added time for a substantial 1-10 to 0-4 interval advantage.

Meath resumed smartly and had a Mitchell point to their credit in the opening minute and they also squandered a goal chance 
when Mitchell was denied by Aidan Gillen. Derry gradually whittled down the deficit with points from McGuckian (free), Downey and Niall Doyle that closed the gap to seven points (0-7 to 1-11) by the end of the third-quarter.

Derry continued to reel in the Royals with points from McGukian and Downey (two) and when McGuckian converetd a 52nd minute penalty it left the minimum in it.

Meath found enough to hold on and finish with a mini-flourish as Mitchell (thrre) and Costello sent over crucial points,

 
SATURDAY 11th / SUNDAY 12th august
The semi-pinal pairings are
Galway or Clare (Sunday) v Meath
Kerry v Monaghan.

LEINSTER MFC

First round - Meath 2-20, Westmeath 2-7.
Second round - Meath 1-13, Dublin 2-8.
Third round - Meath 4-14, Louth 0-12.
Fourth round - Meath 1-13, Offaly 1-12.
Fifth round Meath 1-8, Wicklow 1-10.
Semi-final - Meath 5-18, Laois 0-8.
Final - Meath 1-15, Kildare 1-7.

ALL-IRELAND MFC
Quarter-final - Meath Derry
NEXT UP 
Semi-final - Meath v Clare or Galway