Leinster SFC Meath 2-14 Laois 0-10: "THAT'S ALL in the head, it's all psychological," declared Joe Sheridan, when asked if seven days would be enough time for Meath to recover for their Leinster semi-final – the natural inference being whatever aches the body might have from Saturday evening's win over Laois will quickly disappear as thoughts shift to their showdown with Dublin in Croke Park on Sunday. Mind over matter, indeed.
Meath haven’t beaten Dublin in the Leinster championship since 2001. A quick comparison of Saturday’s performance with Dublin’s win over Wexford the previous week would suggest they should now bridge that nine-year gap. Sheridan will cause Rory O’Carroll a few restless nights this week. If Sheridan maintains form we’ll find out exactly how good the Dublin full back really is. The big Seneschalstown man was awesome on Saturday evening.
Wearing the captain’s armband for the injured Nigel Crawford, Sheridan has taken on a leadership role not previously witnessed, and his two goals and two points inspired Meath to a convincing victory. It would be nice from a Laois point of view to say those scores were the main difference between the teams, except they weren’t.
Meath gradually enforced their superiority all over the field, particularly up front, with Graham Reilly picking up where he left off in last Sunday’s draw with four incisive points, Shane O’Rourke hitting three big points from play, and Cian Ward also claiming three, two from placed balls.
Defensively, Meath limited Laois to a paltry four points in the second half – all from placed balls. In the end Laois only converted 10 of their 31 scoring chances, and there was no repeat of last week’s heroic comeback. Meath simply refused to allow it this time.
Their victory hasn’t come without cost. Midfielder Mark Ward limped off after 22 minutes with an ankle injury, and looks doubtful for Sunday, and centre back Michael Burke is out for the season with a fractured shin bone, sustained in an accidental clash on 25 minutes. Crawford is also unlikely to feature on Sunday as his back problem persists.
There is also the frankly unforgivable loss of goalkeeper Paddy O’Rourke, who got himself sent off 18 minutes into the second half for a senseless kick into the chest of Laois corner back Pádraig McMahon. O’Rourke had fetched a high ball before the Laois man actually pushed him over, but instead of waiting for the free, O’Rourke kicked McMahon – and there was no surprise when the red card was shown.
Meath brought on Brendan Murphy, who luckily for them, has considerable goalkeeping experience and should minimise the loss.
Despite playing the last 15 minutes with 14 men, Meath never surrendered their dominance. Sheridan’s two goals had obviously set them up well: the first, after six minutes, punched into the net after a superb cross from Ward; and the second, just before half-time, was also set up by Ward, Sheridan this time sneaking through for the crucial pop at the ball which drove it into the net.
So Meath were up 2-5 to 0-6 at half time – no doubt aware they’d also been five points up in Croke Park the previous Sunday.
“Yeah, we came in at half-time in the same position as last week,” said Sheridan. “We made sure, we said, we wouldn’t come out this time without winning this game.”
Meath sealed the deal in the first five minutes of the second half, as Caoimhín King, Reilly (twice) and Sheridan served up four points. The Laois section in the crowd of 12,569 headed for the exits.
Pádraig Clancy’s introduction for Laois at half-time failed to repeat the effect of last Sunday. Their halfbacks were always in trouble, Colm Begley lasting just 10 minutes, and Cathal Ryan getting a roasting by Ward, and conceding the first goal in the process.
Brendan Quigley was also disappointing at midfield, Donie Kingston was outplayed, and, well, only two points from play from all six forwards really explains the rest.
So, Meath have claimed two Leinster championship wins in succession for the first time since 2001, when they last made the Leinster final. Sets it all up nicely for next Sunday.
MEATH:1 P O'Rourke; 2 C O'Connor, 3 K Reilly, 4 E Harrington; 5 A Moyles, 6 M Burke, 7 C King (0-1); 8 B Meade (0-1), 9 M Ward; 12 G Reilly (0-4). 15 S Bray, 10 S Kenny; 13 C Ward (0-3, one free, one 45), 11 J Sheridan (2-2), S O'Rourke (0-3). Subs:20 C Gillespie for M Ward (22 mins, inj), 27 O Lewis for Burke (27 mins, inj), 17 G O'Brien for Moyles (half time), 30 B Murphy for Bray (53 mins); 22 C McGuinness for Kenny (65).
Yellow cards:C O'Connor (15 mins), O Lewis (29 mins), K Reilly (33 mins), J Sheridan (35 mins), S O'Rourke (50 mins).
Red cards:P O'Rourke (54 mins).
LAOIS:1 M Nolan; 3 M Timmons, 4 P McMahon (0-1), 6 C Ryan; 5 C Healy (0-1), 2 P O'Leary (0-1, a 45), 7 C Begley; 8 B Quigley, 9 K Meaney; 17 J O'Loughlin, 11 C Rogers, 12 D Strong (0-1); 18 MJ Tierney (0-4, three frees), 14 D Kingston (0-2, both frees), 15 R Munnelly. Subs:23 D Booth for Begley (10 mins), 10 B Sheehan for Ryan (34 mins), 20 P Clancy for Strong (half time), 21 P Lawlor for Rogers (50 mins), 19 D Rooney for Quigley (67 mins).
Yellow cards:B Quigley (16 mins), MJ Tierney (30 mins), C Healy (45 mins), J O'Loughlin (58 mins).
Referee:Maurice Condon (Waterford).
