Sligo 1-14; Meath 3-7: Who would have guessed? Meath, the masters of impossible escapes, became the ultimate victims of yesterday's nail-biting combination of sport and maths in the unpredictable Division One B.
Seán Boylan's team arrived in the northwest in contention for a semi-final place but had to listen to the broadcasts coming in from around the country to confirm this one-point loss consigned them to lower-division football next season.
Narrow defeats are anathema to the truest pillar of Meath tradition but they are the reason for this relegation. As Boylan remarked, all three of their losses could so easily have been reversible. Yet he was also frank enough to observe that the score at Markievicz Park flattered his defeated team.
Sligo were much more convincing and it would have been too cruel had they fallen to the classic Meath kiss of death. It almost happened - Trevor Giles floated a long point and on the next play fired a long ball downfield which Joe Sheridan somehow turned into a goal. That accounted for the tight score but Sligo had the balance and hunger and enough class to control the game for long periods.
Aside from Limerick, Sligo have been the most consistent team in this division, toughing it out after a summer that left many writing them off, and lose out on a semi-final place because of that late Sheridan goal.
James Kearins has introduced an appealing symmetry to his team. It was encouraging to see the best of Sligo's play did not necessarily involve Eamon O'Hara, who had a subtle game at half forward. The power players were Dessie Sloyan, who hit 1-5 in the first half, the strong Seán Davey, Brendan Philips, Patrick Naughton, and Mark Breheny, the most creative presence on the field.
Sligo had size down the centre, two midfielders who can get forward and worked together like demons. It might have come earlier: they led by 1-6 to 0-2 after 20 minutes but then goalkeeper Philip Greene, blinded by the sun, allowed a long free that Sheridan dropped short to slip through his hands. That goal from nothing awakened Meath's instincts and inevitably, they punished Sligo for the remainder of the half, with Donal Curtis and Brian Farrell setting Ollie Murphy up for goal 10 minutes later. Meath led 2-4 to 1-6 at half-time and the home fans were grumbling about the unfairness of life.
Playing into the strong wind Sligo were even more impressive. Having permitted Meath to undo all their earlier work, they started again. They kept their visitors scoreless for 27 minutes of the second half and worked steadily to kick a fine series of points.
Seán Davey's score, in a move that began with Noel McGuire intercepting a Meath pass and releasing to Shane Curran, set Sligo on their way. Up 1-10 to 2-4, they rolled ahead 1-14 to 2-06 with four minutes remaining.
Meath did not quit but were not the Meath that used strike fear into small children and daddies alike. Boylan replaced his half-forward line but the new boys made little more impression. Giles operated busily from his berth at left-half back but it was disconcerting to see the Skryne man trailing dutifully back as his team tried to work the ball forward. Ollie Murphy needs hard hours on firm ground and in the sauna before he can rediscover his edge. Sheridan scored points and even if one goal was lucky and the other came too late, his play was the one consoling thought for the Meath crowd.
By Meath standards, this was an anaemic way to leave Division One. They worked adequately but there was little evidence of the famed proletariat spirit or the edgy sense that fills all grounds when they are in a certain mood. "I thought we worked all right but maybe we didn't have the same hunger as Sligo," said Boylan. "Maybe this will be the kick up the backside that we need."
In fairness, Boylan was forced to comprehensively redesign his team just before throw-in due to late withdrawals by Mark O'Reilly, Paddy Reynolds and Hank Traynor, men born for grinding out results. Some of the more hopeless passages of Meath play may be attributable to that upset, but Boylan will not be inclined to attach the reason for this loss to anything other than the simple fact they were not up to it here.
"So we are definitely gone so, are we?" one Meath player asked a small band of followers as the team left the ground. But nobody answered. You would need to be daft to tell a Meath man he is gone in April.
SLIGO: P Greene; N McGuire, P Naughton, B Phillips; P Doohan, M Langan, P Gallagher (0-1); G Maye (0-1), S Davey (0-2); B Curran; M Breheny (0-1), E O'Hara; D Sloyan (1-6), K Quinn, A Marren (0-3, 2 frees). Sub: N McNamara for B Curran (70 mins).
MEATH: D Gallagher; D Clarke, D Fay, C Murphy; T Giles (0-1), T O'Connor, S Kenny; A Moyles, C McCarthy; N Kelly, E Kelly, D Byrne; B Farrell, O Murphy (1-0), J Sheridan (2-4). Subs: D Curtins for D Byrne (20 mins); S McKeigue for E Kelly (53 mins); D Regan (0-2) for B Farrell (55 mins); R McGee for N Kelly (55 mins); M Ward for C McCarthy (72 mins).
Referee: M Hughes (Tyrone)
