Meath defeat Dublin at the second time of asking

Meath 1-10 Dublin 1-9

Meath got the better of arch rivals Dublin in dramatic fashion as an injury-time point from Cormac McGuinness split the sides in tonight's O'Byrne Cup quarter-final replay in Pairc Tailteann, Navan.

Ollie Lewis won back possession in the dying seconds and set up centre-back McGuinness for the deciding point in a 1-10 to 1-9 win.

A much-changed Dublin side had looked out of contention at half-time at Pairc Tailteann, trailing by 0-7 to 0-2.

Meath also fielded a somewhat experimental line-up and they assumed control in all sectors of the pitch in the first half, moving into an early 0-4 to 0-0 lead.

Jamie Queeney opened the scoring after a well-placed kickout from goalkeeper David Lyons, before big Joe Sheridan's outstretched right hand directed a poorly-struck free from David Bray over the crossbar.

There was a good deal of needle in the game and Colin Daly, the Dubs' saviour from the drawn game, and James Macken squared up to each other near the sideline as the tempo increased.

Lewis and David Bray combined before the latter pointed in front of the posts and finding plenty of space down the left wing, Lewis added a fourth for Meath with a driven shot.

With 22 minutes on the clock, a rudderless Dublin finally had their first point when Bernard Brogan got away from marker Davy Dalton to find the target.

But Pat Gilroy's men took their wides tally to five before Brogan pointed again on the stroke of half-time.

Coming up to the break, Meath bossed the play again and scores from Bray (free), Queeney (free) and Brian Meade pushed them six points ahead.

Gilroy's half-time words had the desired effect though, and Dublin won a penalty for a foul on Daly within 30 seconds of the restart - only for Brogan to fluff his lines and Lyons saved his tame effort.

Still, it was clear that Dublin's dander was up and points from Eamon Fennell, Dean Kelly and Brogan closed the gap to 0-7 to 0-5 by the 42nd minute.

Tiernan Diamond and Sean Murray were brought on by Gilroy for the second half, while Cian Ward made his seasonal debut for Meath as a substitute alongside Stephen Bray.

Bray's brother David stopped the rot for the Royals, clipping a free over to make it 0-8 to 0-5, but the Dubs were beginning to dominate and the lead was suddenly theirs.

Brogan lobbed a free over from close range and then with the Meath half-back line badly exposed, Kelly raided through before Brogan was on hand to flick the ball past Lyons for a 45th minute goal.

Queeney got Meath back on terms with a free and although Brogan cancelled that score out, Meath were celebrating a goal of their own on the hour mark.

Peadar Byrne did well to win the ball in the build-up, Queeney took it on and laid off in good time for Cian Ward to bulge the net and put two points between the sides - 1-9 to 1-7.

Again, it was Dublin's turn to counter as the game built to a gripping crescendo that left the 6,000 spectators present enthralled.

Diamond did the donkey work for Fennell's second point of the night, and Kevin Bonner stepped up to fist over the levelling point in the final minute of normal time.

More drama followed in injury-time as a shot from Denis Carrigan fell short of the Meath posts, and it was left to McGuinness to win out for the home side after Lewis' inspired turnover.

The reward for this battling victory for Eamonn O'Brien's men is a semi-final clash with DCU in Navan on Sunday (throw-in 2pm).

Scorers: Meath: D Bray, J Queeney 0-3 (0-2f) each, C Ward 1-0, J Sheridan, O Lewis, B Meade, C McGuinness 0-1 each

Dublin: B Brogan 1-5 (0-2f), E Fennell 0-2, D Kelly, K Bonner 0-1 each