O'Byrne Cup: Meath sent manager Seán Boylan home happy as they emerged with a fully merited seven-point victory over Wexford in their 2005 O'Byrne Cup senior football opening-round clash at Castletown on Saturday.
Boylan may be starting out on his 22nd year in charge but he is as determined as ever to lead a Meath resurgence with what will be a new-look side.
"I am confident of building a side and this is only the beginning," he said. "Despite finding it difficult in the first half we played very well in the second 35 minutes.
"It was an ideal opener for many of the players. I'm pleased with the victory," he added.
For Wexford manager Pat Roe it was a second successive defeat for his experimental side that had lost to the Underdogs selection seven days earlier.
New All Star Mattie Forde, who held a watching brief, must have had mixed emotions as his side struggled to score just two points from play.
Meath, even with the assistance of the breeze, struggled through the first half in which only their dogged persistence saw them stay in touch.
They had fallen behind to a second-minute Diarmuid Kinsella pointed free when just three minutes later they conceded a penalty, full-back Anthony Moyles being penalised for a high tackle on Paddy Colfer.
From the resulting penalty goalkeeper David Gallagher got down low to his right to deflect Kinsella's effort onto the post, after which he succeeded in furiously scrambling the ball off the line to safety.
The sides were deadlocked at 0-4 each at the end of 15 minutes, but points from Joe Sheridan and Michael Burke allowed Meath to stretch out a two-point lead.
In the run up to the interval Wexford had their only scores from play through David Fogarty, while Sheridan pointed a Meath free in between to leave the Royal County with a 0-7 to 0-6 interval lead.
Within five minutes of the restart Meath had killed off the game.
Impressive corner-forward Stephen Bray had increased their lead with a well executed point, before Sheridan finished to the net following good build up work from Ollie Murphy and Bray, leaving them comfortably leading 1-8 to 0-6.
Wexford had to wait until the 54th minute for their first second-half score, a Diarmuid Kinsella pointed free.
While the home attack added two further frees, Meath came close to finishing on a high, only for home goalkeeper Gavin Morris to parry a goal-bound shot from Murphy, with substitute Ray Magee crashing the loose ball off the upright.
That miss was just a minor disappointment as Meath were firmly in control through the entire second half.
MEATH: D Gallagher, N McKeighue, A Moyles, S McGabhann, T O'Connor, M O'Reilly, D Kealy, N Crawford, J Cullinane, M Burke (0-2), O Murphy (0-4), R Maguire, S Bray (0-3), C Brennan, J Sheridan (1-4, 3 frees). Subs: R Fitzsimons (0-1) for Brennan.
WEXFORD: G Morris, C Morris, R Mageean, N Murphy, D Murphy, D Breen, P Curtis, J D'Arcy, B Doyle, D Fogarty (0-2), D Kinsella (0-8, 7 frees, one 45), K Kennedy, P Cullen, P Colfer, S Cullen. Subs: A Morrissey for Kennedy; C Hore for S Cullen; G Sunderland for Doyle; D Foran for Breen.
Referee: M Deegan (Laois).
