Goals undo ladies bid to get back into race

There appears to be no let-up in Meath"s dreadful All-Ireland SFC qualifying form. Last Sunday it was the turn of the ladies to fall at the first hurdle as they exited the race following a disappointing and somewhat unexpected loss to a talented Down side at Lakeview Park, Mullingar. Following the men"s humbling exit at the hands of Limerick just eight days earlier it was left to the ladies to fly the only senior flag in national competition, but their efforts fell short as a host of missed chances and some slack defending conspired to send them crashing to a Down side that had never won a senior championship game before Sunday. It was a close and hugely entertaining contest throughout, but Meath conceded goals at crucial times and missed three decent chances early in the second-half. The goals stopped Meath in their tracks and handed the initiative to a Down side that looked to be losing their grip on the tie at certain stages of the enthralling contest. The first goal of the game resulted from an error by Aoife O"Rourke as she gifted the ball to Orla Fegan and the Newry Shamrocks girl finished superbly to boost the Ulster side to a 1-6 to 0-6 interval lead. Meath owned the third quarter and looked set to overturn the deficit, but they couldn"t pull clear with a number of poor wides and conceded a slack goal with a minute of normal time remaining to dash their hopes. Meath were probably the marginally better side, but that was also the case in their Leinster SFC semi-final against Dublin, which they also lost. Grainne Nulty, Mary Sheridan, Lisa Keenan and Elaine Duffy were the driving forces behind a solid team display, but the failure to convert chances when they gifted to them proved costly. Nulty was the best player on show, but Down had more players capable of producing the hard graft. Michaela Downey was outstanding with number 14 on her back, but she didn"t just feature at full-forward as she tormented Meath all over the superbly manicured pitch. Orla Fegan and her twin sister Sinead also caused countless problems, while Kyla Trainor and Aileen Pyres were virtually unmarkable. Meath had their hands full throughout the contest. Mena Sheridan was solid at full-back, but she was under a lot of pressure for sustained bouts and some errors did materialise. It was the same for Louise McKeever, who struggled when Trainor, Downey and Natasha Ferris ran at the Meath rearguard with pace and menace. Keenan was on a par with Nulty as Meath"s star performer and while Jenny Rispin and Duffy were superb focal points in the attack it wasn"t until the second-half introduction of Geraldine Doherty that Meath started to make inroads into Down"s advantage. Doherty"s pace and power troubled the Down defence and it took some time to contain her, but when they did manage it, it signalled the end of Meath"s chances of sneaking through the back door for All-Ireland success. Even in the early stages Meath"s prolificacy in front of the posts was evident as Rispin and Duffy were wide before a brace of Pyres frees after fouls by Julieann Scanlon and Keenan handed the Mourne girls an early advantage. Unperturbed by their early misses, Meath went on the attack with Nulty firing three excellent points after Duffy had opened the Royal"s account. Down responded as more poor defensive play allowed Downey point twice and Lisa Morgan also got on the scoresheet to edge the Ulster girls into a 0-5 to 0-4 lead. Meath continued to squander chances with Mary Sheridan over-hitting a pass to Alisha Jordan when she could have pointed herself and two minutes later Orla Fegan netted the first goal. Down were in the ascendancy after the goal, but Meath showed great resolve with Scanlon denying Downey a certain goal with a superb block and points from Blaithin Brennan and Duffy (free) closing the gap to 0-6 to 1-6 at the break. Within 40 seconds Ferris stretched the lead for the Down side. Meath followed with wides from Nulty, Mary Sheridan and Duffy before the St Ultan"s player made amends from a free. Irene Munnelly did brilliantly to narrow the angle and deny Morgan a goal. Doherty was introduced and Meath responded almost instantly with points from Nulty (free), Keenan and Rispin to restore parity, 0-10 to 1-7. Morgan was quickest to react to Ferris"s effort that rebounded off the upright to re-establish Down"s lead and Sinead Fegan pointed after a great run to make it 1-9 to 0-10. Duffy and Mary Sheridan levelled matters again, but in the closing stages Down found an extra gear and outscored Gordon Weldon"s troops by 1-3 to 0-1 in the closing seven minutes to secure their place in the next round and send Meath crashing out. SCORERS Down - O Fegan 1-1, K Trainor 1-1; M Downey 0-3 two frees, L Morgan 0-3; A Pyres 0-2 two frees; N Ferris 0-1, S Fegan 0-1. Meath - E Duffy 0-5 two frees; G Nulty 0-4, one frees; B Brennan 0-1, L Keenan 0-1, J Rispin 0-1, Mary Sheridan 0-1. TEAMS Meath - I Munnelly (Wolfe Tones); J Scanlon (Summerhill), Mena Sheridan (Seneschalstown), A O"Rourke (Donaghmore/Ashbourne); L Keenan (St Michael"s), L McKeever (Seneschalstown), A Carolan (Seneschalstown); B Brennan (Royal Gaels), G Nulty (Seneschalstown); J Rispin (Summerhill), Mary Sheridan (Seneschalstown), N O"Sullivan (Royal Gaels); C Daly (Summerhill), E Duffy (St Ultan"s), A Jordan (Skryne). Subs - V McGinn (Duleek / Bellewstown) for O"Rourke 26 mins, G Doherty (St Ultan"s) for O"Sullivan 36m, J Dolan (Blackhall Gaels for Daly 49m, H Lawton (Donaghmore / Ashbourne) for Jordan 56m. Down - E McCourt; J Connell, E Downey, N Lennon; E Mulhern, A Downey, S Fegan; S Murphy, K Trainor; K Gribben, L Morgan, O Fegan; N Ferris, M Downey, A Pyres. Sub - F Carr for Murphy 21 mins. REFEREE Liam McDonagh (Sligo).