Meath in relegation mire after defeat

Tyrone 1-12 Meath 0-5

Meath were sent crashing into a relegation crisis at Healy Park, where they hammered by 10 points by a Tyrone team with nothing to play for.

The Red Hands had already secured promotion, but they were able to hand out a footballing lesson to a Royal side that travelled north desperately needing a result.

Stephen O’Neill scored the only goal of the game in the first half, and Mickey Harte’s side won pulling up against their 14-man opponents, who had full-back Graham Reilly sent off with 20 minutes to play.

O’Neill punched to the net after just five minutes, laying the foundations for what was to be a comfortable evening for the runaway Division Two leaders.

Kyle Coney converted a free, and while the Red Hands failed to push on from that early flourish, it wasn’t until the 15th minute that Meath got their first score, Cian Ward firing over an excellent point.

It was Ward who converted a ’45 into the wind, and added a free to narrow the gap.

Tyrone responded with a Sean Cavanagh free, and they stepped up the tempo in the closing stages of the first half.

They began to move the ball with more purpose, and when veteran pair Conor Gormley and Ryan McMenamin pushed forward, Mark Donnelly set up midfielder Aidan Cassidy for a point.

Tyrone shot the last five points of the half, with Cavanagh and O’Neill hitting two each to send them in with a 1-6 to 0-3 interval lead.

Meath needed to push on when they got the wind in their backs in the second half, but it was Tyrone who stretched their advantage, with Coney slotting two frees between the posts early on.

They had extended the lead to nine points, through defenders Cathal McCarron and Peter Harte, both bursting from deep to split the posts, by the time Graham Reilly scored the first of Meath’s two second half points in the 46th minute.

Full-back Graham Reilly had stepped into a avert a couple of dangerous situations, but he was sent off with 20 minutes to play after picking up a second booking.

The Red Hands managed just one score in the final quarter, but they were never threatened, such was the security at the back.

Scorers:

Tyrone: S O’Neill 1-2, K Coney 0-4 (4f), P Harte, S Cavanagh (1f) 0-2 each, A Cassidy, C McCarron 0-1 each

Meath: C Ward 0-3 (1f, 1 ’45), S Bray (f), G Reilly 0-1 each

TYRONE: J Curran, A McCrory, Justin McMahon, C Gormley, C McCarron , P Harte, R McMenamin, A Cassidy, C Cavanagh, R McNabb, Mark Donnelly, S Cavanagh, K Coney, N McKenna, S O’Neill.

Subs: O Mulligan for O’Neill (46), J Lafferty for Coney (54), C Girvan for Donnelly (58), S McNally for McNabb (65)

MEATH: D Gallagher, M Burke, K Reilly, C King, S McAnarney, B Menton, D Tobin, T Walsh, M Ward, S Kenny, S Bray, G Reilly, P Gilsenan, J Queeny, C Ward.

Subs: B Meade for Walsh (19), B Farrell for Kenny (h-t), C Gillespie for M Ward (46), D Carroll for G Reilly (58)

Referee: P Hughes (Armagh).