Meath 0-10 Monaghan 1-12:MONAGHAN PROVED much too potent for Meath and now move two points clear at the top of the division after their five-point victory over Meath in Scotstown.
The game was originally fixed for Clones but following a pitch inspection on Saturday was transferred to Scotstown and the throw-in was delayed for 15 minutes because of traffic congestion.
The home side were the dominant team for the greater part of the contest. They had several brilliant individual performers, and their forward division in particular possessing too much pace and power for a Meath rearguard that was repeatedly stretched.
Meath relied almost exclusively on the accuracy of Cian Ward from frees and his tally of seven points, six frees and one 45, tells its own story.
Monaghan were never behind in the game after Paul McGuigan opened with an excellent point in the fourth minute but it was a well crafted goal by Paul Finlay in the 10th minute that set them up for a dominant first half, at the end of which they led by six points.
Paul Finlay and Tomás Freeman did most of the damage, the latter in particular leading the Meathmen a merry dance, and it was a surprise Eoin Harrington was left as his marker for so long.
At half-time Monaghan led by 1-7 to Meath's 0-4.
Meath were a transformed team on the assumption and upped the tempo considerably to put Monaghan under a fair degree of pressure during the third quarter.
They outscored the home side by three points to one in that period but their lack of penetration up front was illustrated by the fact that all three points were from frees by Cian Ward.
The home side weathered the storm to strike for three points inside five minutes from Vincent Corey, Eoin Lennon and Stephen Gollogly to give them a cushion that saw them ride out another period of the pressure by the visitors late on.
Points from Cian Ward and Graham Reilly in the 27th and 28th minutes had the margin down to five but thereafter Meath could only manage an exchange of points between Eoin Lennon and Joe Sheridan to leave five points between the sides at the finish.
MONAGHAN: P McBennett; D Mone, JP Mone, D Morgan; D Freeman, D Hughes, P McGuigan (0-1); D Clerkin, E Lennon (0-2); C McManus, R Woods (0-1), P Finlay (1-1, one free), S Gollogly (0-1), V Corey (0-2), T Freeman (0-4, two frees). Subs: N McAdam for JP Mone, C Hanratty for C McManus, O Duffy for S Gollogly.
MEATH: B Murphy; E Harrington, D Fay, S Kenny; N McKeague, K Reilly, C King; N Crawford, M Ward; P Byrne, G Geraghty, A Nestor; S Bray (0-1), J Sheridan (0-1), C Ward (0-7, six frees, one 45). Subs: B Meade, for M Ward, G Reilly (0-1) for K Reilly, S McAnerney for C King, C McGill for N McKeague.
Referee: M Hughes (Tyrone).
