Night of drama

After the dust had settled on Saturday evening and the Meath SFC picture became a bit clearer, even the most knowledgable pundits couldn't have predicted the final championship groupings. Saturday night was full of high drama. Supporters, mentors and officials from all the clubs monitored what was happening elsewhere and how the unfolding drama might effect them ahead of the knock-out stages. The air of anticipation was heavy with suspense at Skryne, Pairc Tailteann and Donore on Saturday evening. Group A hung on a knife edge with only Navan O'Mahonys assured of a place in the knockout stages. There were two other places up for grabs between Seneschalstown, Simonstown and St Patrick's. As it transpired Seneschalstown and St Patrick's celebrated, while Simonstown were left to rue defeat at the hands of Donaghmore/Ashbourne who managed to escape from the relegation mire. They were replaced by Duleek/Bellewstown who lost to Seneschalstown. The permutations were complicated. St Patrick's managed to scrape into the last eight by virtue of Niall Mooney's injury-time point that earned the Stamullen men a draw with defending champions O'Mahonys. Had St Pat's lost they would have been out. The sequence of results that put Simonstown out of the equation ws devastating for the north Navan men. Had Simonstown lost to Donaghmore/Ashbourne and Seneschalstown beaten Duleek / Bellewstown by a point less, then the Navan men would have went through on a better scoring average. O'Mahonys topped group A with St Patrick's securing second spot and Seneschalstown maintaining their hopes by earning a quarter-final spot in third place. Group B was more clearcut. Skryne, who had a free weekend, went through as winners and that left Duboyne's meeting with Blackhall Gaels as the crucial game. Blackhall Gaels were hindered by the dismissal of Tadhg Brosnan and slumped, therefore allowing Dunboyne through to claim second spot and the automatic quarter-final position. Blackhall Gaels will have to meet Dunshaughlin in the preliminary quarter-final. St Ultan's win over Walterstown kept them out of relegation trouble, but Walterstown are in danger of the drop and must now defeat Rathkenny if they are to avoid a relegation final against Duleek/Bellewstown. Everything went as planned in group C with Wolfe Tones securing top spot with victory over Dunshaughlin. Summerhill had no difficulty in overcoming Rathkenny and both can look forward to quarter-finals against Dunboyne and St Patrick's respectively. SFC: Preliminary quarter-final - Dunshaughlin v Blackhall Gaels; quarter-finals - Navan O'Mahonys v Dunshaughlin or Blackhall Gaels; Wolfe Tones v Dunboyne; St Patrick's v Summerhill; Skryne v Seneschalstown.