Depleted Meath narrowly lose to Lake County

It was close it was tense but in the end 14-man Meath narrowly lost to Westmeath in the NHL Div 2A at Mullingar today. 

The visitors had Alan Douglas sent off after 16 minutes and at that stage it looked like they were in real trouble but they fought back to stay in contention right to the end. 

Westmeath wasted a series of scoring opportunities and Meath took advantage clipping over scores at regular intervals to stay in the hunt. 

The Lake County led 1-8 to 0-8 at the interval with Robbie Greville firing to the net very early on in proceedings. However the home team were unable to push on as Meath dug in with Jack Regan firing over a series of excellent points from frees. 

He finished with eight points including one from a sideline cut with Damien Healy and Padraig O'Hanrahan slotting over three points apiece. 

James Toher, returning to action after a long lay-off, also hit two super points from play in a very encouraging performance with Darragh Kelly another who was excellent. Keith Keoghan, James Kelly, Darragh Kelly and Michael O'Grady were others to register points over the hour.  

Westmeath took the lead a number of times in the second-half but they were unable to draw away completely as the spirited Meath side stayed in their slipstream.

Now Meath have one more Div 2A game to play against Kerry next weekend but their place in the division for another year looks secure. 

SEE MATCH REPORT AND QUOTES IN NEXT ISSUE OF THE MEATH CHRONICLE