Meath 0-11 Louth 0-5:"I'D BE very optimistic we could improve on last year," said Séamus McEnaney on the back of what was a handy win in Navan. "Because if you weren't optimistic that we could improve on last year, you wouldn't be very optimistic."
As a statement on the fundamentals of life in Meath football these days, it felt just about spot on. There’s plenty of ground to cover, it’s true. But there’s also a reasonable chance they might have the legs for it.
The distance between them and Louth here was far wider than could be explained away by the fact they had a game last weekend while Peter Fitzpatrick’s young side lay idle.
Meath moved the ball with more pace and fluency than what the time of year would usually allow, although the shooting was wholly in keeping with the calendar. They shot 10 wides and, had it not been for Graham Reilly and Paddy Gilsenan’s sharpness, disjointed Louth would have hung around for longer.
“Eleven points is a disappointing return for the dominance we had in the game,” said McEnaney. “We had a lot of opportunities but we had a lot of shooting from where we shouldn’t have been shooting. . . .”
Reilly and Gilsenan were the obvious embers in a game that did little enough to keep out the chill.
For much of the first half they were the only scorers and though the younger man faded from view a little as the game progressed, Reilly went on to finish the day with five points from play.
Having come back from a bad hernia problem last year, he went off to a standing ovation from the crowd 10 minutes from the end – a reception that came second only to the one which greeted Graham Geraghty’s arrival off the bench midway through the second half.
Meath led 0-5 to 0-1 at the break courtesy of a couple of points each from Reilly and Gilsenan and one from Stephen Bray. Although Paddy Keenan and Ray Finnegan sought to carry the fight for Louth, they could only manage a Ronan Holdcroft effort in reply. Fitzpatrick fielded a hugely inexperienced side and moved to beef it up at half-time, sending on Darren Clarke, Ronan Carroll and Gerard Hoey.
Clarke and Carroll did make inroads in the second half, with Carroll’s 54th minute point probably the score of the day. But they could get no closer. Bray grew into the game and helped himself to another two points and Reilly scored almost as he pleased, including one effort where he pulled on a loose ball 35 yards out and sent it over the bar.
DCU will come to Navan next Sunday and McEnaney will have Séamus Kenny, Cian Ward, Joe Sheridan and Kevin Reilly all back at training on Tuesday night. Grounds for optimism indeed.
MEATH: D Gallagher; G O'Brien, B Menton, M Burke (0-1); C McGuinness, S McAnarney, C O'Connor; M Ward, C Gillespie; B Meade, G Reilly (0-5), D Tobin; P Gilsenan (0-2), T Walsh, A Forde. Subs: S Bray (0-3) for Forde (10 mins); G Geraghty for Ward (52 mins), C Lenihan for Tobin (57 mins), D Smyth for Reilly (59 mins), JC Lynch for Meade (69).
LOUTH: D Crosby; D Finnegan, D Collier, J Carr; R Finnegan, D Byrne, L Shevlin; P Keenan (0-1, free), B Donnelly; C Bellew, D Crilly, E O'Connor; D Maguire, A McDonnell (0-1), R Holdcroft (0-1). Subs: D Clarke (0-1, free) for Bellew (ht), G Hoey for Shevlin (ht), M Brennan for Holdcroft (ht), R Carroll (0-1) for Donnolly (50), A Reid for O'Connor (64).
Referee: Seán Carroll (Westmeath).
