Meath let point slip in Limerick

For the second week running there is a sense that this was another game Meath let slip as they surrendered a winning position late on and were held to a 2-11 to 0-17 draw by Limerick in the Gaelic Grounds today.

Last week against Louth Meath led by five points heading into the final quarter and ended up losing by three, and while they did manage to secure a point from the trip to Limerick it was certainly a case of a point dropped.

After a sub-par opening half which saw Meath trail pointless Limerick by four points, the Royals turned it around with goals from Mathew Costello and Donal Lenihan to lead by two with 11 minutes remaining.

With the breeze behind them and Limerick's confidence dented Meath should have kicked on, but in the final 16 minutes (including the five minutes of added time) they managed just one further point as Limerick rescued the draw on the stroke of 70 minutes.

Meath did have a couple of chances to win it late on when firstly Lenihan saw an outrageous attempt come back off the crossbar before being knocked out for a '45' which Harry Hogan kicked wide.

Then three minutes later Jack Flynn took a quick free from 45 metres out to Jordan Morris and his effort was deflected out for another '45'. This time Flynn took responsibility for the last kick of the game, but his effort sailed right and wide and Meath had to settle for the draw.

Those closing misses summed up Meath's game. Moments of outstanding brilliance, followed by poor wides and it was those 12 efforts off target in the second period that proved really costly.

Meath can also reflect on a poor refereeing decision in the opening half when Shane Walsh was clearly fouled as he shot for goal, but Derek O'Mahoney waved play on and Limerick were let off the hook.

However, Meath shouldn't have had to rely on those type of calls going their way against a side that were humbled by 24 points by Cork in the previous round and who when into today's game with a scoring difference of -47.

However Limerick were determined and for long periods were the better side, especially in the opening half where they caused Meath countless problems.

It had started promisingly for Meath when Jack O'Connor opened the scoring inside 90 seconds, but Limerick hit three of the next four scores as James Naughton landed two frees after Hugh Bourke had opened his side's account, while Costello replied with a converted free for Meath.

Ronan Jones restored parity in the 14th minute with a brilliant score and Costello added his second free to edge Meath ahead again a minute later.

However, that old failing of long barren spells came back to haunt Meath as they failed to score for 17 minutes while Limerick took advantage of sloppy Meath defending to race 0-8 to 0-4 ahead with points from Naughton (three, two frees), Iain Corbett and Cian Sheehan.

At least two of those points were decent goal chances for Limerick, but Meath were then denied a goal of their own when Walsh was pushed in the back after brilliantly winning O'Connor's long ball.

Despite that disappointment Meath ended their barren spell with quickfire points from Flynn and Morris, but Limerick finished the half on the front foot with Cillian Fahy and Cathal Downes on target to secure their 0-10 to 0-6 lead.

Meath manager Colm O'Rourke made three changes at half-time and that had a positive impact as the Royals dominated the opening stages of the second-half.

However three wides in the opening five minutes of the period was all they managed and Limerick went close to extending their lead with Fahy hitting the upright.

Nine minutes into the second-half Meath finally found their scoring touch and what a score it was as Shane McEntee, Diarmuid Moriarty and Morris teamed up to set up Costello for a simple finish and within four minutes Costello and Morris added points to edge Meath ahead again, 1-8 to 0-10.

Despite that scoring burst Meath continued to be wasteful in front of the posts as they hit seven wides in the third quarter and Limerick's response was to retake the lead with scores from Brian Donovan and Downes.

Moriarty restored parity, 1-9 to 0-12, but Adrian Enright marked his introduction with a point to put Limerick ahead again and with 13 minutes remaining Naughton extended that lead to two.

Moriarty made it a one point game before Donal Lenihan's first touch was to rifle Meath's second goal and push them 2-10 to 0-14 clear - surely it was just a case of seeing it from there.

However Limerick had other ideas.

Paul Maher and Davy Lyons, from a real goal chance, levelled it up again, but when Morris restored Meath's lead again in the 69th minute it looked good for the visitors. However, on the stroke of 70 minutes Donovan levelled again for Limerick and that was how it finished despite those late efforts that ultimately sailed wide for Meath.

SCORERS

Meath - Mathew Costello 1-3 two frees; Donal Lenihan 1-0; Jordan Morris 0-3; Diarmuid Moriarty 0-2; Jack O'Connor 0-1; Ronan Jones 0-1; Jack Flynn 0-1.

Limerick - James Naughton 0-6 four frees; Cathal Downes 0-2; Brian Donovan 0-2; Hugh Bourke 0-1; Cian Sheehan 0-1; Iain Corbett 0-1; Cillian Fahy 0-1; Adrian Enright 0-1; Paul Maher 0-1; Davy Lyons 0-1;

TEAMS

Meath - Harry Hogan; Adam O'Neill, Michael Flood, Dan O'Neill; Jack O'Connor, Donal Keogan, Shane McEntee; Ronan Jones, Jack Flynn; Cillian O'Sullivan, Jason Scully, Ross Ryan; Jordan Morris, Mathew Costello, Shane Walsh. Subs - Brian Conlon for D O'Neill, Daithi McGowan for Scully, Diarmuid Moriarty for Walsh all half-time, Donal Lenihan for McEntee 58m, Aaron Lynch for O'Sullivan 70m.

Limerick - Donal O'Sullivan; Michael Donovan, Sean O'Dea, Brian Fanning; Iain Corbett, Barry Coleman, Tony McCarthy; Colm McSweeney, Cillian Fahy; Cian Sheehan, James Naughton, Cathal Downes; Killian Ryan, Brian Donovan, Hugh Bourke. Subs - Paul Maher for McCarthy 48 mins, Peter Nash for Corbett 49m, Adrian Enright for Ryan 54m, Gordon Brown for Coleman 57m, Davy Lyons for Bourke 65m.

Referee - Derek O'Mahoney (Tipperary).