Meath's good run of form abruptly halted by Dubs

Meath were soundly beaten by Dublin in the intermediate camogie championship

Dublin 1-17

Meath 1-6

The Meath camogie team's good run of form ended on Saturday afternoon at St Peregrine's when they suffered a heavy defeat in Round 4 of the All-Ireland intermediate championship.

Meath had been good at stages in the first-half but overall struggled to contain Dublin. Gary Cole and Tom Moloney's side were a little bit lucky to be going in at the break only a point behind. The second-half was a complete disaster for the Royals and they only managed to score two points, both of which came after Dublin had gone clear in the contest.

Ciara Foley got Meath off to a flying start. The Killyon woman burst through the Dublin defence and finished brilliantly to the back of the Dublin net.

Grainne Skelton responded by popping a score over to open Dublin's account. Skelton followed that score up with a pointed free to leave a single point between the sides after five minutes.

Moments later a Skelton 45' levelled the proceedings. A mistake at the back allowed Eimear O'Leary to claim possession and send one over to edge Dublin ahead.

Having not scored for ten minutes, it was again Foley who settled the ship for Meath with a well-taken 45' before Amy Gaffney got off the mark to edge Meath ahead once more.

Foley again received the ball deep and drove at the Dublin defence. This time she was cynically fouled by Dublin full-back, Niamh Gleeson, who received a yellow for her action. Foley made no mistake in converting the resulting free before Olivia O'Halloran put Meath up by three after 20 minutes.

Skelton raised the white flag twice in quick succession with two long-range efforts. Sophie McIntyre levelled the scoring before Skelton edged Dublin ahead with her 6th and Dublin's 8th. The sides went in at half-time with Dublin leading 0-8 to 1-4.

McIntyre secured her second to get Dublin underway in the second half before O'Leary put Dublin three points to the good. Skelton rattled off another two frees to leave a gap of five points between the teams.

Meath needed a response quickly but their task was made all the more difficult when McIntyre broke through the defence and laid it off to Emma Moran who polished the sliotar to the net.

Two more points courtesy of Skelton extended Dublin's lead to 10 as Meath struggled to get any sort of momentum going.

Sub Grace Connolly eventually got Meath's second-half tally underway on the 50th-minute marker but two further points from Skelton and Helen Reynolds extended Dublin further ahead. Ciara Foley would close out the scoring with a 45' on a disappointing day for Meath camogie.

SCORERS

Meath - Ciara Foley 1-3 one free two 45's; Amy Gaffney 0-1; Olivia O'Halloran 0-1; Grace Connolly 0-1.

Dublin - Grainne Skelton 0-10 six frees two 45's; Emma Moran 1-0; Sophie McIntyre 0-3; Eimear O'Leary 0-2; Roisin Ní Chathasaigh 0-1; Helen Reynolds 0-1.

Meath - Maggie Randle; Sophia Payne, Aine McNerney, Tracey King; Leah Devine, Maeve Clince, Eimear Fagan; Erin Leddy, Aoife Carey; Amy Gaffney, Ciara Foley, Aoibhinn Lally; Olivia O'Halloran, Emma Hannifin, Grace Coleman. Subs - Rachel Moran for Carey 40m, Grace Connolly for Fagan 40m, Katie Connolly for Hannifin 40m, Emma O'Connell for Fagan 45m, Ella O'Brien for Coleman 60m.

Dublin - Chloe Ní Cheallaigh; Roisin Ni Drisceoil, Niamh Gleeson, Carla Brogan; Aoife Kenny, Sinead Murphy, Caoimhe French; Chloe O'Connor, Kassie McEvoy; Roisin Ní Chathasaigh, Grainne Skelton, Eimear O'Leary; Sophie McIntyre, Emma Moran, Jennifer Moore. Subs - Niamh McCormack for French 48m, Helen Reynolds for McIntyre 53m, Ciara Murphy for Ní Chathasaigh 58m, Éile Ni Cheallaigh for Moran 59m, Kirsty Fenlon for Brogan 62m.

Referee : Jerome McAllister.