Stunning second-half clinches Tailteann Cup for magnificent Meath
It may 'only' be the Tailteann Cup, but there was a huge sense of achievement at Croke Park today as Meath defied the odds to hold off the challenge of Down and claim the handsome trophy with a performance built on enormous defensive fortitude by 2-13 to 0-14.
Down scored eight goals in their semi-final win over Laois. That display installed them as favourites for today's decider, but Meath don't respect odds as they produced their performance of the year, probably of the last 10 years, to claim the valuable piece of silverware.
Colm O'Rourke's faith in his youth was rewarded and there is a huge wave of optimism flooding the county after this win.
Just like the Centenary Cup win in 1984, this could be the launch pad for great things for Meath. While nobody is going to get carried away, this should be celebrated with the gusto it deserves.
As captain Donal Keogan said before accepting the cup he has 'waited a long time to say these words, tá an-áthas orm an corn seo a ghlacadh ar foireann an Mhi' and it was a deserving honour for one of Meath's greatest ever players and a corner stone of this win.
This was a near complete performance from Meath. Sure they kicked nine wides in a tactical opening half during which no quarter was asked or given, but when they needed scores late on they came up with the goods - and then some.
Jack Flynn was magnificent. A giant of a man in every sense of the word he kicked four outstanding points and swatted away Down's challenge as if dismissing a summer wasp from an apple pie.
He deservedly picked up the man of the match accolade, but he had many other contenders for that honour.
Meath's defensive structure was top drawer. Their discipline was magnificent in the face of a few decisions that went against them. However, Meath never panicked. They held their shape. Defended in numbers, hunted in packs, shut down the Ulster men before they could get their march going.
They cut out the source, applied the pressure high up the field and when Down did manage to get into an attacking position Meath got numbers back behind the ball and made life difficult.
Down did have their chances. They were the dominant team in the opening 13 minutes as they built up a 0-4 to 0-1 lead.
Sean Brennan had to make a brilliant save to deny Ryan Johnston in the 34th minute, Ronan Jones made a sensational block to keep out a Shealan Johnston chance in the 55th minute and Mathew Costello found himself almost on his own goalline with four minutes remaining to keep out Miceal Rooney's goalbound effort.
It was that type of bravery, dedication, commitment and hunger that epitomised Meath's display.
Defensively sensational - and not just one to seven. One to seven were outstanding, but the support they received from Conor Gray, Flynn, Cathal Hickey, Costello and even Jordan Morris and Lynch contributed to constructing a brick wall which Down struggled to breach.
Lynch and Morris were well shackled. They sacrificed their own game for the greater good. The Meath dangermen, who had scored 6-32 between them in this year's Tailteann Cup, managed one point on Saturday, but they applied pressure from the front - set the tone.
The whole Meath machine worked in unison, they defended en masse and attacked, especially in the second-half, with a flair that bamboozled the best Down could manage.
The heavy rain that fell all morning threatened to reduce this final to a dour affair, but that proved far from the case.
Scores were slow to come by early on, but the drama, intensity and entertainment was relentless.
It took Down almost three minutes to open the scoring from a Ceilum Doherty effort. Costello responded with an excellent free from a difficult angle three minutes later, but Down continued to look the more capable side as Ryan Johnston, Shealan Johnston with a fisted effort and Odhran Murdock, who was afforded the rare freedom of Croke Park for a simple score, all pointed to give the Mourne men their 0-4 to 0-1 advantage.
Meath were well below par, much more was expected of them. They needed a spark, a huge slice of luck and they got just that in the 16th minute when Jack Flynn's point attempt from distance looked to be tailing wide. However, a marginal increase in wind speed directed the effort onto the upright in front of the boisterous Meath fans on Hill 16 and as the ball fell between Pat Havern and Ronan Jones it was the Meath man who stuck out his leg to deflect the ball off his shin to the net - sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.
That was just the spark Meath needed, the alka-seltzer to ease their nerves. Morris added his sides opening point from play with a magnificent effort from the outside of his left and suddenly Meath led for the first time 1-2 to 0-4 at the end of the opening quarter.
A foul by James McEntee gifted Havern Down's first score from a free, but Meath regained the advantage within a minute when Costello landed his second free after the busy Sean Coffey was upended.
After failing to blow Meath out of the water in the early stages like they did to Laois in the semi-final, Down looked spooked. They missed a number of scoreable chances and lost Ceilum Doherty to a careless black card for a foul on Flynn.
Despite being a man short Down still looked threatening with Brennan making a superb save to deny Ryan Johnston and on the counter attack Lynch went close, seeing his effort come back off the woodwork.
A rare lapse at the back gifted Down a goal chance from the last attack of the half, but Liam Kerr blasted over when clear through to ensure parity at the break, 0-6 to 1-3.
A disputed free, harshly awarded in midfield, was moved up to within range for goalkeeper Niall Kane and he made no mistake to give Down the lead again. After Ceilum Doherty returned to the fold Kane had another long-range free deflected out for a '45' which he then converted to make it 0-8 to 1-3.
It took Meath nine minutes to find their attacking groove after the break. A patient build-up ended with Cathal Hickey tapping over and 90 seconds later Ronan Jones played a one-two with Keogan and restored parity again.
In the 51st minute Jack O'Connor, who had just replaced Lynch, embarked on a brilliant run before landing the score of the game to edge Meath ahead again - they never looked back, 1-6 to 0-8.
A well won turnover in defence set up Flynn to make it a two-point game and as both sides saw goal chances go abegging, with Ryan denying Shealan Johnston and Costello almost setting up Gray, it was Havern who landed the next score to close the deficit to the minimum.
A brilliant dummy and slice over the bar from O'Connor pushed Meath two clear again and when Flynn added another on the run Meath had a three-point cushion for the first time, 1-9 to 0-9.
Two more outstanding points from Flynn, each one better than the one before, cancelled out scores from Havern (two, one free) as Meath maintained their lead, 1-11 to 0-11.
Rooney thought he had equalised for Down, but Costello and Brennan kept his effort out and two minutes later Hickey put four points between the sides for the first time.
Down did get back to within two as the 70 minutes ran out with Ryan Johnston and Andrew Gilmore pointing, but a superb score from Costello settled Meath nerves again.
With five minutes of injury-time announced there was still plenty of time for Down to rally. Kerr made it a two-point game with three minutes still on the clock, but as Meath soaked up the pressure they hit Down on the counter-attack with the mesmerising, mercurial and magnificent Flynn setting up O'Connor who found the net with the last kick of the game to put the cherry on the icing of the beautiful Tailteann Cup cake.
SCORERS
Meath - Jack O'Connor 1-2; Jack Flynn 0-4; Mathew Costello 0-3 two frees; Ronan Jones 1-0; Cathal Hickey 0-2; Jordan Morris 0-1; Ronan Jones 0-1.
Down - Pat Havern 0-4 three frees; Ryan Johnston 0-2; Liam Kerr 0-2; Niall Kane 0-2 one free, one '45'; Shealan Johnston 0-1; Odhran Murdock 0-1; Ceilum Doherty 0-1; Andrew Gilmore 0-1.
TEAMS
Meath - Sean Brennan; Adam O'Neill, Ronan Ryan, Donal Keogan; Ciaran Caulfield, Padraic Harnan, Sean Coffey; Ronan Jones, Conor Gray; Jack Flynn, James McEntee, Cathal Hickey; Jordan Morris, Mathew Costello, Aaron Lynch. Subs - Jack O'Connor for Lynch 46 mins, Cillian O'Sullivan for McEntee 53m, Harry Higgins for Caulfield 57m, Donal Lenihan for Morris 65m, Daithi McGowan for
Down - Niall Kane; Patrick McCarthy, Pierce Laverty, Anthony Doherty; Micheal Rooney, Ceilum Doherty, Danny Magil; Daniel Guinness, Odhran Murdock; Shealan Johnston, Liam Kerr, Rory Mason; Eugene Branagan, Pat Havern, Ryan Johnston. Subs - Shane Annett for Mason 42 mins, Donach McAleenan for S Johnston 55m, Andrew Gilmore for Magill 58m, Patrick Branagan for McCarthy 59m, Ryan McEvoy for Guinness 62m,
Referee - Noel Mooney (Cavan).