SPOILS SHARED AT PAIRC TAILTEANN

Meath …… 2-10
Laois ……. 0-16

Colm O’Rourke remains unbeaten as he takes his first tentative steps as Meath manager.

His team followed up a decent, come from behind, win over Carlow with a terrific tussle against Laois in a game that could have gone either way.

Both sides had chances to win the game late on. Daithi McGowan was inexplicably wide from a close range free while Laois’ top scorer Evan O’Carroll was off target from play with time running out.

In the end though five points without reply in the last twelve minutes earned Laois a share of the spoils

It was level, 1-4 to 0-7 at the break and similar to the Carlow game Meath’s second half subs worked wonders.

The introduction of Diarmuid Moriarty, Donal Keogan and Donal Lenihan saw a turnaround in fortune for the home side.

By the 48th minute, Cillian O’Sullivan’s second goal moved Meath five points clear, 2-9 to 0-10, and late on the home team had a decent penalty shout waved away.

Next up for Meath is Wednesday’s visit of Longford to Ashbourne.

Scorers: Meath – Cillian O’Sullivan 2-2; Jordan Morris 0-3; Keith Curtis 0-2 (fs); Donal Lenihan 0-2 (1f); Daithi McGowan 0-1;

Laois – Evan O’Carroll 0-6 (2 45s), (2fs); Eoin Lowry 0-4 (3fs); Mark Barry 0-4 (2fs); Lee Walker 0-1, Paul Kingston 0-1.

Meath – Harry Hogan; Ross Ryan, Cathal Hickey, Michael Flood; Conor Quigley, Daniel O’Neill, Shane McEntee; Daithi McGowan, Shane Crosby, Cillian O’Sullivan, Darragh Campion, Jack O’Connor; Mathew Costello, Jordan Morris, Keith Curtis. Subs – Diarmuid Moriarty for Campion (ht), Donal Keogan for Costello (ht), Donal Lenihan for Hickey (ht), Robin Clarke for O’Neill (45), Brian Conlon for Quigley (48), Aaron Lynch for Morris (54), Sean Rafferty for McEntee (68).

Laois – Scott Osborne; Sean Greene, Trevor Collins, Robert Piggott; Sean O’Flynn, Mark Timmons, Brian Byrne; Damon Larkin, James Finn; Mark Barry, Paul Kingston, Patrick O’Sullivan; Eoin Lowry. Evan O’Carroll, Colm Murphy. Subs – Kevin Swayne for Larkin (35), Niall Corbet for Murphy (54), Lee Walker for Kingston (54), Seamus Lacey for Piggott (54), Padraig Kirwan for O’Flynn (62), Cathal Doyle for Finn (64), Dylan Kavanagh for O’Sullivan (64), Kieran Lillis for Timmons  (73).

Referee – Seamus Farrelly (Dublin).