Meath, Tyrone and Limerick progress

Qualifying series round-up: Meath cantered past Laois ( 1-15 to 0-7 ) at O’Moore Park in Portlaoise this evening as the Royal…

Qualifying series round-up:Meath cantered past Laois ( 1-15 to 0-7) at O'Moore Park in Portlaoise this evening as the Royal County's All-Ireland series qualifying campaign gathers pace.

This time there was non need for last gasp dramatics like those required against Louth last weekend, as Meath displayed too much quality for their hosts.

Ollie Murphy, back among the thick of things in the Meath full-forward line, grabbed the only goal of the match in the 25th minute and the game was almost up for Laois by half-time.

With Murphy and Graham Geraghty trading scores for Meath, Laois struggled to gain a foothold and they were looking down the wrong end of a 1-7 to 0-3 scoreline at the interval.

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Meath stretched that advantage after the break and, despite taking their foot of the gas in the closing stages, ran out comfortable winners.

At Casement Park, a tetchy and occasionally bad-tempered affair saw Tyrone dump Derry from the championship, winning 1-17 to 1-12.

The match, which at times resembled a personal duel between Anthony Tohill and Peter Canavan, hinged on a Tyrone goal early in the second-half, a body blow from which Derry never recovered.

Elsewhere, Offaly's tilt at the Sam Maguire is over for another year after Limerick defeated them by 3-9 to 2-7.