Meath on the road to recovery

Wexford 0-7 Meath 0-10

Meath continued their recovery from a poor start to this season's National Football League with a battling three-point win over Leinster rivals Wexford this afternoon.

The Royals made it two Division 2 wins on the trot, scoring five points in each half and boasting a more consistent attack.

Wexford, on the other hand, hit a galling 15 wides and a missed a hat-trick of goal-scoring chances with Colm Morris missing two and Andreas Doyle also blazing wide.

Wexford's All-Star forward Mattie Forde was a late withdrawal from the starting line-up but he did come on for the latter stages of the second half.

Even still, Meath were able to curb his threat and hold on for a morale-boosting victory.

Speaking afterwards, Meath manager Eamonn O'Brien said: "It was important for us to win, to get the two points and build on the momentum of the Laois win.

"We got out of jail on a couple of occasions – they probably had two or three goal chances – but we played better in the second half, against the wind.

"We had a good work rate in the second half and did enough to hang on."

Wexford dominated possession in the opening quarter but could not turn it into points and the visitors foraged into a 0-5 to 0-1 lead.

Cian Ward (0-3) was their scorer-in-chief, with Stephen Bray and Mark Ward supplying the other Meath scores.

Meath's best spell began with Cian Ward lofting over a massive point from 50 metres out, Bray then split the posts when cutting in from the left and, in the 19th minute, Mark Ward took a pass from Peadar Byrne before pointing from close range.

Wexford flopped and frustrated with Morris hitting the crossbar. They had struck a total of 10 wides by the break but two late points from Ciaran Lyng - one a fisted point and the other a free - saw them somehow turn around with just a two-point deficit to overhaul.

Meath carved out two goal chances on the restart but both substitute Rory Maguire and Brian Meade elected to take points instead.

Wexford lost Eric Bradley and Collie Byrne to yellow cards, while Meath were disrupted by a yellow for Mark Ward.

Free-taker Shane Cullen and Lyng reduced the arrears once again to two points and with Forde on the pitch, Wexford had a chance at stealing the win.

But some wayward shooting let them down once again and they were left to contemplate their fourth straight league defeat.