Frayne inspires Meath to impressive opening round win
LONGFORD venues haven’t been happy hunting grounds for Meath teams in recent years but the under-20s rarely looked like they were going to suffer a similar fate to the senior and minor teams as they comfortably overcame the midlanders in this opening round Leinster FC encounter at Allen Park, Clonguish tonight on a 0-12 to 0-4 scoreline, writes Sean Wall.
As a spectacle it wasn’t one for the purist as the game was played in atrocious conditions, driving wind and rain throughout which made it extremely difficult for either side to show their true worth.
Meath though adapted much better and were always in the driving seat after Oisin Keogh pointed them ahead inside 10 seconds. They showed an abundance of character as they brought a high intensity and work rate to the game from the very start.
Their 0-8 to 0-2 advantage at half-time didn’t look like a match winning lead considering they had the elements in their favour but Meath controlled proceedings to a greater extend in the second never allowing Longford to gain a foothold on proceedings.
Probably the only thing missing from this Meath display was a goal and they went close on a number of occasions with Frayne testing the woodwork early in the second half and then Ruairi Kinsella blasting over minutes later when it looked easier to find the net.
Captain Eoghan Frayne led the line well with a tally of six points, five from frees, while target man Keogh bagged three points in an impressive display.
There were plenty of other fine individual performances from the likes of Liam Kelly, John Finnerty, John O’Regan, Jack Kinlough, Conor Gray and Ciaran Caulfield.
Caulfield showed his qualities and landed two points before limping out of the action in the closing minutes with a suspected hamstring injury.
Jack Kinlough won the throw-in and his first time delivery found the big Skryne man Keogh who got his side off to the perfect start.
Eoghan Frayne then hit three successive points as Meath eased into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead by the 11th minute. At the midpoint of the opening half it was 0-6 to 0-1 following further scores from Frayne and Caulfield.
Keogh and Caulfield extended the lead to seven by the 20th minute before Longford enjoyed a spell of dominance which yielded just a single point from Matthew Flynn.
Jamie Brady Hynes hit the opening score of the second half from a free for the hosts and their only other score came at the three quarter way stage, also from a free, by Michael Flynn.
Kinsella and Keogh kept the scoreboard ticking over for Meath while their two remaining points came from the boot of Summerhill man Frayne.
Meath have their second outing of the campaign in Group 1 when they host Carlow in Ashbourne next Tuesday evening at 7.30pm.
SCORERS
Meath – Eoghan Frayne 0-6 five frees; Oisin Keogh 0-3; Ciaran Caulfield 0-2; Ruairi Kinsella 0-1.
Longford – Jamie Brady Hynes 0-2 one free; Matthew Flynn 0-1; Michael Flynn 0-1 one free.
TEAMS
Meath - Billy Hogan; Brian O’Halloran, Liam Kelly, John Finnerty, Brian O’Reilly, John O’Regan, Shaun Leonard; Jack Kinlough, Conor Gray; Ciaran Caulfield, Eoghan Frayne, Liam Stafford; Sean Emmanuel, Oisin Keogh, Ruairi Kinsella. Subs – Tom Bowden for Emmanuel 42 mins, John McDonagh for Stafford 54m, Oisin McDermott for Hogan 56m, Ben Moran for Finnerty 57m, Conor Ennis for Caulfield 60m.
Longford - Oisin McManus; Darragh Finlass, Sean Moran, Cian Sutton; Ronan Courtney, Dylan Lynch, Ross Shields; Ben Lynn, Matt Duffy; Matthew Flynn, Micheál Hynes, Gavin Farrelly; Michael Flynn, Jamie Brady Hynes, Caolan Lynch. Subs – Oisin O’Toole for C Lynch 20 mins, Conor Smith for Shields half-time, Padraig Boyle for Courtney 36m, John Sorohan for Matthew Flynn 45m.
Referee – Alan Coyle (Westmeath)