Newman shines on return for Meath

Mickey Newman returned to the Meath colours in impressive fashion this afternoon as he scored 1-6 for the Royals in their 1-15 to 1-11 victory over Louth in Drogheda, while Summerhill forward Barry Dardis featured in goals for Andy McEntee's side as a second-half substitute.
Newman didn't waste time to get on the scoresheet  as he opened the scoring from a free after three minutes, but Louth responded with scores from Conor Early and Tadhg McEneaney to take the lead. However that was the only time they had their noses in front.
Thomas O'Reilly was a denied a goal by a fine save, but in the 19th minute Alan McGauley could do nothing to stop Newman's penalty after James Conlon was fouled by Ruairi Moore and Meath were never headed again.
McEneaney and Newman traded scores and after McEneaney pointed to make it 0-4 to 1-2 Newman (free) and Conlon, with an outstanding score, replied for the visitors.
Two scores for Ryan Burns, the first scored directly from a mark, did narrow the deficit to the minimum again, but Conlon also pointed from a mark to ensure a 1-5 to 0-6 interval lead for Meath.

Meath dominated the opening minutes of the second-half with Danny Quinn's point followed by two for Newman (one free) to make it 1-8 to 0-6.
Louth responded through Ronan Holcroft and Early, but Meath were always comfortable with Newman (free) and Graham Reilly restoring the five-point cushion.
Louth's best spell yielded 1-1 for Burns before Holcroft kicked a point to restore parity with 16 minutes remaining, but the hosts managed just one more point from Burns late on as Meath finished strong with two frees from Ben Brennan, a second point for Reilly and fine scores from Ethan Devine and Thomas O'Reilly completing the scoring.

Scorers: Meath – Mickey Newman 1-6 1-0 penalty, five frees; Ben Brennan 0-2 frees; Graham Reilly 0-2; James Conlon 0-2 one mark; Danny Quinn, Ethan Devine, Thomas O'Reilly 0-1 each; Louth –  Ryan Burns 1-4 two frees, one mark; Tadhg McEneaney 0-3 one free; Ronan Holcroft, Conor Early 0-2 each. 

Full match report and team details in Tuesday evening's Meath Chronicle.