Meath humbled by stunning Offaly performance

There was a rude awakening for Meath at Pairc Tailteann today as they opened their NHL Div 2A campaign with a 3-9 to 3-25 hammering from Offaly.

After running the Faithful men close in last year's league opener and with several key players back from injury Meath went into today's game with a pep in their step, but left with their tails between their legs as Offaly dished out a lesson in composure and committment that the hosts simply couldn't match.

The early warning signs were there. Despite opening the scoring from a Padraig O'Hanrahan free inside 30 seconds, Meath lost concentration and conceded a goal within seconds when Oisin Kelly beat Charlie Ennis to flick Leon Fox's long ball to the net.

Meath weren't disrupted by the concession of that score and drew level when Alan Douglas and Adam Gannon pointed superbly. Eoghan Cahill opened his account with a fine score for Offaly, but again Meath continued to enjoy their fair share of the spoils with James Toher and Gannon linking up before the latter was fouled for a free which O'Hanrahan converted to make it 0-4 to 1-1.

A superb score from Gavin McGowan gifted Meath the lead for the second time and when Brian Duignan and O'Hanrahan traded scores it was Meath who led by 0-6 to 1-2 at the first water break.

However that break in play allowed Offaly time to re-evaluate their set-up and when play resumed they had points from Ross Ravenhill and Cahill on the board within a minute to retake the lead and they never looked back.

Leon Fox and Cahill added converted frees before Adrian Hynes benefitted from some good fortune after Ennis had saved Kelly's initial strike and the ball rebounded off the Offaly full-forward and into the net.

The one-way traffic continued and Meath didn't score again until the fifth minute of first-half injury-time when O'Hanrahan converted a free, but by that stage Cahill (three frees), Duignan, Ben Conneely, Brian Watkins and Liam Langton had all contributed to Offaly's 2-13 to 0-7 interval advantage.

Cahill stretched that lead with another pointed free after the resumption, but substitute James Kelly gave Meath brief hope with an excellent finish from a tight angle to make it 1-7 to 2-14, but it was mere cosmetics as Offaly stepped on the gas again.

Another decent save by Ennis denied Kelly, but fortune favoured the visitors as Shane Kinsella bundled the loose ball over the line to make it 3-15 to 1-7 and the gap was further stretched to 17 points before a point from Jack Regan and another excellent goal from a narrow angle from Mark O'Sullivan added some degree of respectability to the scoreboard, 2-8 to 3-18.

However there was no stopping Offaly. Cahill and Langton made it 3-20 to 2-8 by the second water break and despite the result never being in doubt they continued to press home their supremacy with Cahill contributing a dozen points, including two spectacular sideline cuts, as all Meath managed in the final quarter was a point from Douglas and an injury-time goal from Jack McGowan.

It's back to the drawing board for Nick weir and his players ahead of next Saturday's trip to Aughrim to take on Wicklow in round two.

SCORERS

Offaly - Eoghan Cahill 0-12 eight frees, two sidelines; Liam Langton 0-5; Oisin Kelly 1-0; Shane Kinsella 1-0; Adrian Hynes 1-0; Brian Duignan 0-2; Ross Ravenhill 0-1; Leon Fox 0-1 free; Ben Conneely 0-1; Brian Watkins 0-1; Jason Sampson 0-1; Shane Dooley 0-1 free.

Meath - Padraig O'Hanrahan 0-4 three frees; James Kelly 1-0; Mark O'Sullivan 1-0; Jack McGowan 1-0; Alan Douglas 0-2; Adam Gannon 0-1; Gavin McGowan 0-1; Jack Regan 0-1.

TEAMS

Offaly - Conor Clancy; Joey Keenaghan, Ciaran Burke, Paddy Delaney; Brian Watkins, Ben Conneely, Killian Sampson; Leon Fox, Ross Ravenhill; Shane Kinsella, Eoghan Cahill, Liam Langton; Oisin Kelly, Adrian Hynes, Brian Duignan. Subs - Damien Egan for Keenaghan 5 mins, Paddy Rigney for Delaney 27m, John Murphy for Kinsella 52m, Jason Sampson for Duignan 58m,Evan Kelly for Fox, Aidan Treacy for K Sampson both 63m, Shane Dooley for Cahill, David NAlly for Hynes both 67m.

Meath - Charlie Ennis (Trim); Ben McGowan (Ratoath), Shane Whitty (Blackhall Gaels), Sean Geraghty (Kilskyre/Moylagh); Keith Keoghan (Killyon), Darragh Kelly (Ratoath), James Toher (Trim); Paddy Conneely (Kildalkey), Padraig O Hanrahan (Ratoath); David McGowan (Ratoath), Damien Healy (Longwood), Alan Douglas (Trim); Gavin McGowan (Ratoath), Mark O'Sullivan (Kiltale), Adam Gannon (Killyon). Subs - Jack Regan (Kiltale) for Healy 30 mins, Stephen Morris (Blackhall Gaels) for O'Hanrahan, James Kelly (Kiltale) for D McGowan both half-time, Mickey Burke (Longwood) for B McGowan 44m, Jack McGowan (Ratoath) for Conneely 52m, Shane Brennan (Kilmessan) for Kelly, Jack Walsh (Navan O'Mahonys) for Geraghty both 58m.

Referee - David Hughes (Kilkenny).