Meath…………………………….3-19 (28)
Longford…………………………3-12 (21)
A high scoring tally by both teams has the appearance of well contested game at Pearse Park in Longford but in truth the scoreline does not reflect the reality of a game in
which the Meath team were always dominant and the late charge of scores by Longford made the result look a lot closer. There was a small crowd much of the crowd had travelled down the N4 in pursuit of an expected win.
It will be different picture when Meath travel to Croke Park to play Dublin in the next round. We will see how the young pretenders deal with the All Ireland and Leinster Champions. Then they will see a different team in blue but with more under the engine. The defeated National league finalists will show us what we have to live up to. We can’t expect miracles but hopefully will see a team put in a honest effort which will be expected from Colm O’Rourke and the backroom staff.
It was a great display by the Derry team to lift the national league, a team that had fallen right down the divisions. Then find it’s way back to be real contenders maybe lessons to be learned from their achievements. We all watched, a little bit in awe, as the final and extra time all ended level and Derry winning in a shoot out. Meath have had those days too ask any Meath man who was lucky enough to be in Croke Park for the fourth game on a glorious Saturday evening back in 1991.
Meath Team: S Brennan, D Keogan, A O’Neill, H O’Higgins, C Caulfield, Ross Ryan, S Coffey, R Jones, D McGowan,
C Hickey, E Frayne, S Walsh, J Morris, M Costello, J Conlon.
Subs: J O’Connor for Costello (h-t), C McBride for McGowan (50 mins), D Campion for Ryan (55 mins), K Curtis for Morris (57 mins ), Ronan Ryan for O’Higgins (66 mins).
Scorers
Meath: J Conlon 1-6; E Frayne 1-5 (1-0 pen, 1f); J Morris 0-4; C McBride 1-0; C Hickey, R Jones, S Walsh, C Caulfield 0-1 each.
Longford: J Matthews 1-3 (1f); M Hughes 1-2 (2f); D Gallagher 1-1 (1f); Daniel Reynolds, Dessie Reynolds, J Hagan, D Mimnagh, D Farrell, M Quinn 0-1 each.
