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Meath are pushed all the way

NFL Meath 0-14 Tipperary 1-7: Meath had to pull out all the stops to see off the challenge of Tipperary in this hard fought …

Mon Mar 07 2005 - 00:00

NFL Meath 0-14 Tipperary 1-7: Meath had to pull out all the stops to see off the challenge of Tipperary in this hard fought tie at Clonmel yesterday.

Fergal O'Callaghan gave the home side the perfect start when he pointed twice in the opening seven minutes and while Peadar Byrne pulled one back for the visitors an Ian Barnes pointed free left Meath trailing by 0-3 to 0-1 after 10 minutes.

A brace of points from Joe Sheridan saw the game squared at the end of the first quarter and Meath then took the lead with a Brian Farrell point on 17 minutes.

The home side went ahead again when Ian Barnes and Declan Browne hit the target but Caoimhin King scored aequaliser for the visitors. Browne then pointed two frees to give Tipperary a 0-7 to 0-5 half-time lead.

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Meath dominated the second half after points from Sheridan and Trevor Giles saw them on level terms on 42 minutes.

Four more points from Ollie Murphy, Peadar Byrne (two) and Thomas O'Connor gave them a 0-12 to 0-7 lead after 55 minutes.

Tipperary's Ian Barnes goaled in the 57th minute but his side failed to score thereafter. Meath added points through Graham Geraghty and Ray McGee.

MEATH: D Gallagher; N McLoughlin, A Moyles, S McGabhann; T O'Connor (0-1), D Cremins, C King (0-1); N Kelly, N Crawford; M Burke, T Giles (0-1), P Byrne (0-3); B Farrell (0-1), G Geraghty (0-1), J Sheridan (0-3, two frees). Subs: O Murphy (0-1) for B Farrell (31 mins), B O'Reilly for N McLoughlin (35 mins), R McGee (0-2) for O Murphy (50 mins), C Brennan for T Giles (59 mins, yellow card), D Regan for J Sheridan (60 mins).

TIPPERARY: P Fitzgerald; D Byrne, N Curran, P King; P Morrissey, B Lacey, C Maher; F O'Callaghan (0-2), E Hanrahan; G Burke, P Foley, P Cahill; I Barnes (1-2, two frees), D Browne (0-3, two frees), D Byrne. Subs: B Hahessy for N Curran (39 mins, yellow card), K Mulryan for E Hanrahan (44 mins), S Collum for B Lacey (57 mins, yellow card), P O'Flaherty for B Hahessy (63 mins), J Shanahan for P Foley (66 mins, yellow card).

YELLOW CARDS: Meath: T Giles (58 mins) replaced by C Brennan. Tipperary: N Curran (38 mins) replaced by B Hahessy, B Lacey (57 mins) replaced by S Collum, P Foley (66 mins) replaced by J Shanahan.

Referee: M Collins (Cork).