Meath save face as late point rush earns draw

Galway 0-15 Meath 1-12: You can only imagine the scale of the inquests in Meath this morning had Mick O’Dowd’s men not rescued a draw with a scramble of points in the closing stages of this bizarre game at a cold, wet Salthill.

Meath had only beaten Galway four times in their previous 19 league meetings so another loss would not have been out of the question. But what would have provoked an uproar would have been another second-half collapse.

A week earlier Royal supporters left Páirc Tailteann in a state of shock after Cavan had blown them away after the restart. And Mick O’Dowd’s men came so close to repeating that flop yesterday when they saw a nine-point interval lead transformed into a three-point deficit with four minutes left on the clock. There was a slight wind but both managers agreed it had minimal impact on proceedings. It was more a case of Galway not showing up for the opening half and Meath going missing after the restart.