O'Rourke fumes at Sigerson timing as Meath maintain winning start

Goal hungry Meath maintained their winning start to NFL Div 2 with a nervy 4-8 to 0-16 round two victory over Clare at Pairc Tailteann today.

For the second week in succession the Royals proved lethal when presented with goal chances, but they also shipped another heavy tally of points as Clare applied plenty of pressure.

Another negative for Meath is that Shane Walsh was forced out of the game early after picking up a hamstring injury and with Mathew Costello already out through injury and Cathal Hickey and Darragh Campion taken off to avoid an overload of work because of their Sigerson Cup commitments, manager Colm O'Rourke was frustrated with the timing of the college competition.

"It is absolutely ridiculous that a player like Mathew Costello has to come back from Cork and less than 48 hours later is being put out in a very important game for his college," fumed O'Rourke in his post-match interview.

"The timing of the Sigerson is all wrong. We have six players tied up in it and we had to take off five of them today and two of them are now injured with hamstrings.

"They are pure overuse injuries. It's a disgrace, it's an abuse of players and it shouldn't be going on at this time.

"Sigerson is a great competition. I was delighted to play in it myself and win it with UCD, but it wasn't at that time competing with county football.

"This is especially important for Div 2 teams who are not guaranteed access to the All-Ireland series unless they finish high in the division.

"We should have access to all our players and we shouldn't have to compete with the Sigerson. I know the managers of those teams have tried to mind those players, but they can't possibly do it. They are back out again in semi-finals on Wednesday night.

"I just think it's an absolute disgrace what is happening to the best of our young players. They are so willing to give of themselves. The GAA talk about player welfare, well this is the ultimate in player abuse," said O'Rourke.

As well as being frustrated with the problems the Sigerson Cup gives, O'Rourke was also annoyed with the low scoring return and the high tally of frees conceded.

Seven of Clare's 16 points came from frees and after conceding 11 points from frees against Cork it is an area of obvious concern.

However despite those negatives there was plenty to enthuse about Meath's football.

The use of the long ball was excellent and there were also passages of positive patient play to break down a flooded Clare rearguard.

That patience was obvious in the building of the opening score as Meath retained possession and jabbed at the Clarke half-back line until they finally cracked in the fourth minute and allowed Jack O'Connor open the scoring with an excellent point.

Jamie Malone replied for Clare two minutes later, but a superbly won mark by Jordan Morris, after Ronan Jones sublime long ball, restored Meath's lead and in the 12th minute to struck for the opening goal.

Again more patient play was rewarded when Jordan Morris cut the ball back brilliantly into the square where Donal Lenihan finished superbly with a soccer style finish that his brother Darragh, who plays for Middlesboro, would have been proud of.

Dermot Coughlan replied with a point for Clare, but even after Shane Walsh was forced off, Meath continued to look threatening and another brilliant long ball from Jones was delicately flicked to the net by the alert Lenihan to make it 2-2 to 0-2.

David Sexton probably should have done better for the second goal and he was completely at fault for Meath's third 20 seconds later when he landed his poor kickout straight into the arms of Morris who galloped clear and finished brilliantly.

With the cushion of those three goals, Meath sat back and became sloppy in much of their play. Clare took advantage of that lull and hit five points in succession, three for Emmet McMahon (one free) and two from Gavin Cooney (one free) to close the gap to 0-7 to 3-2.

Meath ended their 18 minute barren spell with Morris converting a free after Diarmuid Moriarty, who had replaced Walsh, was fouled to make it 3-3 to 0-7 at the break.

Morris went close to bagging Meath's fourth goal 30 seconds after the restart, but his effort was well blocked by Sexton and five minutes later another turnover was punished when Aaron Griffin pointed to close the gap to four points.

An outstanding catch from Jones provided the launchpad for a point for Daithi McGowan, but Clare responded with scores from McMahon (free) and Pearse Lillis to make it 0-10 to 3-4.

Just as Clare were threatening to whittle away Meath's lead Darragh Campion settled the Royals with a point and in the 49th minute Lenihan landed a free to make it 3-6 to 0-10.

Cooney and Lenihan traded frees as Cathal O'Connor was black carded for the visitors and with Clare down to 14 players Meath put the issue beyond doubt with their fourth goal, brilliantly finished by Jason Scully after linking up with Jones.

Four minutes later Scully added a point to make it 4-8 to 0-11 and while Meath failed to score in the final 12 minutes Clare added deserved gloss to their tally with points from Collins, McMahon (free), Darragh Bohannon and two frees from Mark McInerney, but it was the goals that won the for the Royals and keeps them in the hunt ahead of the trip to Derry in two weeks time.

SCORERS

Meath - Donal Lenihan 2-2 two frees; Jordan Morris 1-2 one frees, one mark; Jason Scully 1-1; Jack O'Connor 0-1; Daithi McGowan 0-1; Darragh Campion 0-1.

Clare - Emmett McMahon 0-5 three frees; Gavin Cooney 0-3 two frees; Mark McInerney 0-2 frees; Jamie Malone 0-1; Dermot Coughlan 0-1; Aaron Griffin 0-1; Padraic Collins 0-1; Darragh Bohannon 0-1; Pearse Lillis 0-1

TEAMS

Meath - Harry Hogan; Adam O'Neill, Michael Flood, Cathal Hickey; Jack O'Connor, Donal Keogan, Harry O'Higgins; Ronan Jones, Daithi McGowan; Cillian O'Sullivan, Jason Scully, Darragh Campion; Jordan Morris, Donal Lenihan, Shane Walsh. Subs - Diarmuid Moriarty for Walsh 12 mins, Brian Conlon for McGowan 49m, Shane Crosby for Campion 52m, Robin Clarke for Hickey 57m, Shane McEntee for Scully 67m.

Clare - David Sexton; Manus Doherty, Cillian Brennan, Ronan Lanigan; Cian O'Dea, Pearse Lillis, Alan Sweeney; Cathal O'Connor, Darragh Bohannon; Jamie Malone, Ciaran Downes, Dermot Coughlan; Padraic Collins, Emmett McMahon, Gavin Cooney. Subs - Aaron Griffin for Downes half-time, Ikem Ugweru for Coughlan 49 mins, Daniel Walsh for Sweeney 54m, Mark McInerney for Cooney 60m, Dan Keating for O'Connor 67m.

Referee - Niall Cullen (Tyrone).