Royals pile on the misery

Meath 7-13 Carlow 0-06

Unfortunately for Carlow, it was a Leinster quarter-final tie, so the 28-point defeat will be recorded in the history books, another big black blotch on their 2014 copybook.

One could attempt to cut them some slack and suggest that a goal hungry Meath side were never likely to be restrained.

But Carlow actually started the brighter side and but for a bucket load of wides — by any objective analysis, they wasted about 1-2 early on — they would have actually led.

Instead, they allowed Meath around 20 minutes to blow out whatever dirty petrol was in the system before cruising comfortably clear.

The turning point came in the 24th minute. Meath led 0-3 to 0-1 when they were awarded a penalty following Daniel St Ledger’s foul on Donal Keogan.

Mickey Newman converted the spot kick, his first of three goals on the day, and Carlow’s shaky house quickly came crumbling down. By half-time, Meath had 3-6 racked up to Carlow’s 0-2 and the game was essentially up.

The visitors didn’t let up there either, tagging on four more goals in the second half, to the dismay of the disillusioned Carlow fans in the 4,313 crowd.

Mind you, there didn’t seem that many multicoloured Carlow jerseys in the crowd. The majority were green and gold which pretty much reflected where both counties were coming from ahead of the game.

Carlow finished bottom of Division 4 in the league, leaking an average 20 points per game, the worst concession rate in the country.

Many of their fans expected no better than a tanking yesterday and, in truth, some players may have feared the same.

As for Meath, they entered the game off the back of a strong league performance that saw them finish third in Division 2. But for a home defeat to Armagh and a late, late Donegal equaliser in Ballybofey, they would have been looking forward to Division 1 football next spring.

After a tentative start, they brought all those good vibes to bear on Carlow and tore the Barrowsiders asunder.

And yet nobody in Meath went home believing they are still anything other than second favourites for the Leinster title behind Dublin.

In fact, some Meath players will need to improve considerably against Kildare on June 29 if they’re return to a third provincial decider in a row.

Graham Reilly and Stephen Bray are the players they will look to for inspiration on bigger days but neither particularly excelled.

In those tense early stages, Mick O’Dowd’s side struggled for any sort of spark and watched in disgust as Carlow attacked in waves. Ultimately, Carlow weren’t good enough to take advantage, kicking eight first-half wides, landing several point attempts short and wasting a decent Ciarán Moran goal chance in the opening minute.

When the game was something of a contest, Bryan McMahon was Meath’s most influential performer. Keogan was excellent at centre-back also.

McMahon is a product of Meath’s relatively successful U21 side and, at a more local level, the apparent revolution that is taking place at the Ratoath club.

His 32nd-minute goal put Meath 2-5 to 0-2 clear and was expertly taken. Andrew Tormey did the spade work and was another player who had a fine game.

Tormey comes from just up the road at the Donaghmore-Ashbourne club and finished with 1-3, also hitting the bar late on with a drilled effort.

McMahon played in the diagonal ball for Meath’s third goal just before half-time, which Bray finished from close range.

Bray has been injured in recent weeks so he can cut some slack. But he must improve if Meath are to beat a Kildare side in form after hammering Louth.

It didn’t get any better for Carlow in the second half. They scored just four more points, all from frees and, in the entire game, kicked one point from open play.

It wasn’t exactly vintage stuff from Meath but, to their credit, they kept the foot down and continued going for goals.

Tormey got his shortly after the restart with a blistering drive that went in off the underside of the bar. A former midfielder, he will surely retain his wing-forward spot against the Lilles.

Newman finished with 3-2 but, strangely, didn’t even play that well. His second and third goals came in a 60-second spell with 20 minutes to go.

They were tame concessions, from Carlow’s point of view. Then again, it had been that sort of day. O’Dowd unloaded his full allocation of substitutes from the bench. Veteran Seamus Kenny scored two points but players like Dalton McDonagh, a goal scorer, Mark O’Sullivan and former minor midfielder Adam Flanagan shone a light on the future for the county.

Scorers for Meath: M Newman (3-2, one free, 1-0pen), A Tormey (1-3), B McMahon (1-1), S Bray and D McDonagh (1-0 each), S Kenny and S O’Rourke (one free) (0-2 each), D Tobin, D Carroll and M O’Sullivan (0-1 each).

Scorers for Carlow: P Broderick (0-5, one 45, three frees), S Kinsella (0-1, one free).

Subs for Meath: Seamus Kenny for Keogan (h/t), Adam Flanagan for Meade (46), Dalton McDonagh for G Reilly (51), Mark O’Sullivan for Burke (52), Paddy Gilsenan for Bray (54), Donal Lenihan for McMahon (60).

Subs for Carlow: Conor Lawlor for Mernagh (h/t), Kieran Nolan for Power (42), Eoghan Ruth for Foley (46), Willie Minchin for Moran (47), Jack Kennedy for Kinsella (55).

Meath: P O’Rourke; C Young, K Reilly, M Burke; D Carroll, D Keogan, P Harnan; B Meade, S O’Rourke; D Tobin, B McMahon, A Tormey; G Reilly, S Bray, M Newman.

Carlow: P Coady; R Mahon, S Mernagh, BJ Molloy; G Power, D St Ledger, B Kavanagh; D Foley, H Gahan; D Bambrick, C Moran, M Meaney; P Broderick, Kinsella, C Coughlan.

Referee: P O’Sullivan (Kerry).