Carlow no match for Meath

Round-Up : Meath totally outclassed Carlow in their Leinster SFC opener at Croke Park this afternoon.

Round-Up: Meath totally outclassed Carlow in their Leinster SFC opener at Croke Park this afternoon.

It was always going to be a tough ask for Paul Bealin's men in their provincial opener, but Colm Coyle's men ran out easy 1-25 to 0-08 winners in what was a very one-sided game at headquarters.

Even though Meath were under strength after the fiasco at Parnell Park against Dublin, the writing was on the wall from an early stage.

When the Royal County went into the break 1-15 to 0-04 ahead - through eight different scorers - there was genuine concern for a hapless Carlow side.

READ MORE

Joe Sheridan scored the only goal of the game when he fired home in the 22nd minute.

If there were any positives for Carlow to take from the game it was the championship debut of Daniel St Leger, who was impressive and managed to score two points.

Next up for Meath will be Wexford at Dr Cullen Park on June 1st.

Elsewhere there was another very one-sided game in the Connacht championshsip as Galway ran out comfortable 2-16 to 0-06 winners against Roscommon at Pearse Stadium.

Galway didn't need to be at their best as their opponents could only muster two points in the second period, and both were from frees.

Galway put the first five points on the board and never looked back even though the first period was somewhat scrappy.

That said, Roscommon only trailed 0-04 to 0-06 at the break.

Captain Padraig Joyce, Matthew Clancy and Michael Meehan added to Galway's tally within five minutes of the restart to restore a five-point margin.

Roscommon's task got even more difficult as centre forward Gary Cox was sent off for a second yellow card, which meant red. Paul Conroy rubbed salt into the wounds when he clipped a fine point to make it 0-10 to 0-4.

Clancy then ended a long scoreless spell with his third point of the day. The contest was flat long before Ger Heneghan popped over his opening score from a close-range free at the start of the final quarter.

Meehan's fourth point came from a 55th-minute 45 and Heneghan pointed another Roscommon free before Clancy completed a fine day at the office by rifling a low shot to the bottom corner of Roscommon's net to make it 1-12 to 0-6.

As the game petered out, Conroy (3) and Meehan added to the tally for an easy Galway win.

Cavan were made to work for their 1-19 to 1-14 win over Antrim in the Ulster championship encounter at Casement Park.

Weekend Results
 
Leinster SFC

Kildare 0-09 Wicklow 0-13  (Croke Park)
Carlow 0-08 Meath 1-25  (Croke Park)
 
Connacht SFC
Galway 2-16 Roscommon 0-06  (Pearse Stadium)

Ulster SFC
Antrim 1-14 Cavan 1-19  (Casement Park)
 
Ulster SHC
Tyrone 1-06 London 2-13 (Omagh)
Monaghan 1-15 Donegal 1-14  (Clones)