Meath cruise to victory over Leitrim
Meath's preparations for the defence of their O'Byrne Cup continued at Oldcastle today as they claimed the Michael Reynolds Cup with a 1-20 to 1-10 victory over Leitrim.
Fielding a hugely experimental side Meath recovered from a poor end to the opening half to claim a comfortable victory over their visitors.
Andy McEntee's side started well and raced into a 0-3 to 0-0 lead and by the 26th minutes they were 0-9 to 0-2 ahead. However Leitrim finished the half well to ensure parity at the break, 1-6 to 0-9.
Meath made six substitutions at half-time and the second period was slow to get going before Niall Kane eventually resumed the scoring and helped Meath open up a 0-16 to 1-6 lead.
The sides shared eight points in the closing 15 minutes before Barry Dardis put the icing on Meath's tally with a goal from the last kick of the entertaining contest.
Meath – Andrew Colgan (Donaghmore/Ashbourne); Liam Ferguson (Gaeil Colmcille), Donal Keogan (Rathkenny 0-1), Robbie Garry (Rathkenny); Niall Kane (Simonstown 0-1), Sean Curran (Donaghmore/Ashbourne), Sean Reilly (Moylagh); Bryan Menton (Donaghmore/Ashbourne 0-1), Adam Flanagan (Clonard); Darragh McGovern (Donaghmore/Ashbourne), Darragh Campion (Skryne 0-2), Danny Quinn (Ballinabrackey 0-2); Ben Brennan (St Colmcille's 0-4 frees), Barry Dardis (Summerhill 1-1), Thomas O'Reilly (Wolfe Tones 0-4 three frees). Subs – Ronan Ryan (Summerhill) for Garry, James McEntee (Curraha 0-1) for Reilly, Sean Tobin (Simonstown 0-1) for Flanagan, James Conlon (St Colmcille's 0-1) for Brennan, Eoin McDonnell (Na Fianna 0-1) for D McGovern, Mark Brennan (Navan O'Mahonys) for Colgan all half-time, Eoin Lynch (Longwood) for Curran, Thomas McGovern (Donaghmore/Ashbourne) for Ferguson both 45 mins, Andrew Beakey (St Colmcille's) for M Brennan 60m.
Leitrim – Diarmuid McKiernan; James Rooney, Paddy Maguire, Oisin Madden; Aidan Flynn, Conor Farrell, Conor Reynolds; Conor Cullen, Domhnaill Flynn; Ray Mulvey (0-1), Jack Heslin (0-1), Alan McLoughlin; Emlyn Mulligan (0-5 four frees), Dean McGovern, Padraig Gallagher (1-0). Subs – Keith Beirne (0-3 two frees) for McGovern half-time, Eoin Ward for Flynn 41 mins, Daire Farrell for C Farrell, Cathal McCauley for Maguire, Michael McWeeney for Cullen all 45m, Kenneth Cox for Mulligan 61m.
Read Fergal Lynch's full match report in Tuesday evening's Meath Chronicle.